The most unusual buildings and structures. Unusual buildings from around the world

A person sometimes creates beautiful and unusual things, the sight of which can be enjoyed by grateful descendants, marveling at the skill and imagination of outstanding masters. Architects, in this context, give us fewer masterpieces than painters, sculptors or musicians, but this is understandable, because an architect needs not only to come up with something out of the ordinary, but also to realize his plan, which is many times more difficult than for the same artist . And yet, there are truly incredible buildings in the world, which will be discussed in this article.

There are dozens of amazing buildings scattered around the world, and today we will look at only a part of them.

Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai

The real name of this hotel, which means “Arab Tower” in translation, is known to few people, but the Parus Hotel is familiar to almost every travel lover. The architect is Tom Wright from Atkins Middle East. The height of the hotel is 320 meters, and its appearance resembles a huge white sail, which is where the building’s nickname came from. The hotel positions itself as a seven-star hotel, although it is internationally classified as a five-star deluxe hotel. Room rates range from $1,000 to $28,000 per night. All rooms in the hotel are two-story, and the smallest room has an area of ​​168 square meters. m.

Crooked house in Sopot

The small seaside resort of Sopot, located in the Gdansk Voivodeship (Poland), has one attraction that has already become famous throughout the world, attracting crowds of tourists to the town. We are talking about the so-called Crooked House, built according to the design of architects Shotinsky and Zalevsky. Despite its original appearance, Crooked House is part of a shopping center, which, however, does not detract from its unusualness.

dancing House

Another building with irregular geometric shapes is the Dancing House, located in the capital of the Czech Republic. Deconstructivism is the style in which this unusual building, which is actually an office center, is made. The two towers of this house are an architectural metaphor for a dancing couple, with one tower being normal and the other being destructive. Two architects worked on the project: Croatian Vlado Milunic and Canadian Frank Gehry.
Cube houses

Cube houses

Apparently inspired by what was allowed in Holland, the architect Piet Blom built Cube Houses or Cube Houses in Rotterdam and Helmond in 1984. The houses are residential and very comfortable.

House Mila

One of the main attractions of Barcelona is Casa Mila, designed and built by the outstanding Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi in 1910, commissioned by the Mila family. This house was the last private commission of Gaudi, who devoted the rest of his life to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. Elevators, an underground garage, an innovative ventilation system, an open plan - this house is a unique manifestation of architectural genius, decorating the capital of Catalonia with its appearance to this day.

Temple of Truth

Wooden Buddhist Temple of Truth, located in Pattaya (Thailand). Construction of the temple began back in 1981, initiated by Thai businessman Leka Viriyapana, and is planned to be completed by 2025. The construction uses ancient Thai construction and wood carving technologies, and every square centimeter of the temple is carved sculptures and wood ornaments depicting a mix of religious and mythological scenes from Southeast Asia and China.
Great Mosque in Djenne

Great Mosque in Djenne

This mosque is the largest clay building in the world. It is located in the city of Djenne (Mali), in the floodplain of the Bani River. Despite its appearance, the building is a little over a hundred years old, its construction was completed in 1907. This is the greatest achievement of the Sudanese-Sahelian architectural style.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

The Museum of Modern Art, a branch of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art, opened in 1997. This building was designed by architect Frank Gehry. It is located on the banks of the Nervion River in Bilbao (Spain). The museum is built in the style of deconstructivism.

Museum of Contemporary Art in Nitroya

The museum in Nitroya is the famous architectural creation of Oscar Niemeyer in the modernist style. The museum building is a sixteen-meter-tall concrete smooth cylindrical structure on a thin leg with a glass belt, reminiscent of a UFO.

These are not all the buildings that I would like to show you, especially considering that each of them deserves a separate article. But everything has its time, dear friends.

Whether you work as an illustrator or just love to draw, you probably need inspiration from time to time. There's nothing better than relaxing and feeling inspired by going somewhere you've never been before. When traveling, you definitely want to see the most famous buildings. Unusual buildings live their own lives, becoming part of the existence of countless people for hundreds of years after construction. Here are the most amazing buildings from around the world to inspire you.

Lotus Temple, New Delhi

This is the main temple of the Bahai religion, located in New Delhi. It consists of 27 structures resembling lotus petals, which flow into a central room with a ceiling of forty meters high. The building has nine sides and nine doors; it can accommodate two and a half thousand people. The surface is covered with white Greek marble, the same from which the Parthenon was built. The construction of the building was completed in 1986, and since then it has become one of the most visited in the world - one hundred million people come here every year.

Cologne Cathedral, Cologne

Cologne Cathedral is a Gothic basilica whose construction began in 1248 and stopped in 1473, but the building was never completed. Work was not resumed until the nineteenth century; the building was completed only in 1880. The builders followed the medieval plan in detail. This is a true Gothic masterpiece, containing many works of art and the tombs of twelve archbishops.

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem

This masterpiece of Islamic architecture was built in the seventh century in Jerusalem. The octagonal building with a wooden dome references Byzantine design. Persian tiles on the outside and marble slabs on the inside were added by Suleiman the First in 1561. It is one of the oldest Islamic structures and has served as a model of architecture for thousands of years.

Casa Mila, Barcelona

On the streets of Barcelona there are unusual, beautiful buildings created by the famous architect Gaudi. His unique approach has resulted in the creation of some of the most creative buildings, and this house, nicknamed "La Pedrera" or "The Quarry" by locals, is no exception. It is more of a sculpture than a building. The facade is a pile of stone with wrought iron balconies.

World Trade Center, New York

The latest addition to New York's landscape is the World Trade Center, which is the tallest in the Western Hemisphere. Construction began in April 2006, and the last component was installed in 2013. The symbolic height of 1,776 feet, or five hundred and forty-one meters, is a reference to the year of the Declaration of Independence. This tall glass tower rises from a cubic platform before transforming into an elegant trihedron.

St Paul's Cathedral, London

One of the most legendary buildings in London is St. Paul's Cathedral. Its dome is one of the largest and rises 112 meters in height. Construction here began as early as 604 AD, but the modern church was begun in the seventeenth century, after a fire. Since then, the cathedral has been a vital part of London life, dominating the landscape and attracting tourists and pilgrims alike.

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur

Rising 170 meters, the towers were the tallest in the world from 1998 to 2004. They are a recognizable landmark and were created by architects Cesar Pelli and Ahmad Murdijat.

White House, Washington

Irish architect James Hoban is the man behind the creation of the White House. In 1792, he proposed a plan for the presidential house and received permission to build it. Construction began in 1793 and was completed in 1801.

Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most amazing buildings in Europe. It is known for its tilt, which was caused by soft soil that was unable to support the weight of the structure. Construction began in 1173 and ended only three hundred years later.

Kaaba, Mecca

The Kaaba is a cubic building in Saudi Arabia, the most sacred to Muslims. The building is decorated with silk and cotton. Pilgrims go here every year. The modest structure rises only 13 meters in height.

The Shard, London

This building is called "shard of glass". The 87-storey skyscraper is located in central London. Construction began in 2009 and was completed in 2012. The outside of the building is completely covered in glass.

St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow

This cathedral is the most visited attraction in Moscow. The famous building is shaped like a flame rising to the sky, it is located near the Kremlin and marks the center of the city. The cathedral was built from 1554 to 1560, little is known about its architect.

Empire State Building, New York

This skyscraper is one of the tallest in the world. Construction began in 1930 and lasted only 410 days. The building was designed by William Lamb and became one of the most famous in New York.

Lloyds Building, London

This futuristic building looks like something out of a science fiction movie. It is one of the most recognizable in London. Richard Rogers is the architect who created this unique design.

Colosseum, Rome

This amphitheater is considered one of the greatest architectural creations of the ancient Romans. The stadium could accommodate 50 thousand spectators, and gladiator games were held here. Constructed of concrete and stone, the building was completed in 80 AD and continues to attract thousands of people to this day.

Taj Mahal, India

This building is often considered a palace, but in fact it is a tomb for the imperial wife. The building combines Persian, Turkish and Indian styles; construction was completed in 1648.

Chrysler Building, New York

At the beginning of the twentieth century, people constantly tried to build buildings as tall as possible - this is one example. This skyscraper was commissioned by car manufacturer Chrysler, which explains the name.

Opera House, Sydney

It is one of the greatest buildings of the twentieth century, built by Jörn Utzon. The building is a combination of three groups of shells housing performance spaces and a restaurant.

Space Needle, Seattle

The futuristic building was built for the World's Fair in 1962. The famous landmark rises 184 meters and is 42 meters wide at its widest point.

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

This building was formerly a church and is now a museum. It is a fine example of Byzantine architecture and is considered one of the most interesting places in the world.

Buckingham Palace, London

Numerous architects worked on this building to give it the look we know today. It is one of the few royal palaces still in use.

Fallingwater, USA

This building was created by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1934. The unique design allows the house to appear to float above a waterfall.

Pantheon, Rome

Rome has many amazing buildings, and the Pantheon is no exception. The Pantheon was destroyed and rebuilt twice. He has been inspiring architects for two thousand years.

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

This is one of the most striking examples of modern architecture built in the twentieth century.

Flatiron Building, New York

This building was built in 1902. The distinctive triangular shape allows the building to occupy the narrow gap between Fifth Avenue and Broadway.

Villa Savoy, France

The building created by Le Corbusier is an ideal example of the style of the early twentieth century - in 1965 it received the status of a historical monument.

Burj Khalifa, Dubai

The tallest building in the world is located in Dubai and rises 828 meters in height. The building was started in 2004 and completed in 2010.

This publication will be of interest to those who love to travel around the world and discover amazing places. Unusual buildings and structures of the world, we decided to talk about this in this article! Amazing buildings, which defy the laws of physics, which evoke positive emotions, buildings that are created to surprise. The best architects designed these structures, but what was going on in their heads? What kind of boundless imagination do you need to have to place residential buildings, museums, hotels, libraries, offices within such building boundaries? The goal of these creators was one, to make millions of people look at their creation with their mouths open! and a description of these buildings.

The most unusual buildings from around the world!

This building was built in 2010. A highly intelligent business center located in Mumbai. This egg-shaped building surprises not only with its appearance, but also with its internal solutions. The project is cyber architecture; it is truly a “smart home”, which is literally crammed with a variety of devices and sensors. For example, any visitor to the building can measure their body temperature and blood pressure at any time.

The house was built as a landmark to attract tourists to the city. The structure is made of black and transparent glass. The entrance to the building passes through the violin, after which you can go up the escalator to the piano room. This “musical house” is informational in nature. In it you can learn about local attractions of the city and see a map of the streets of the area.

The wickerwork and basketry company Longaberger once decided to create an unusual-looking administrative building for itself. Their own basket came to their aid, based on the layout of which the architects created the company’s office. Thanks to this decision, the company became famous throughout the world!

How to attract readers to your library? Very simple! It is necessary to build a library in the form of books lying on a shelf, as the authorities of Kansas did.

This “dancing house” houses a shopping center, which is located in the city of Sopot on Monte Cassino Street. It was built in 2004, the architect was inspired by fairy tales.

This wonderful building is located in the very center of Prague. Before this “drunk house”, there was an ordinary house in this place, but in 1945 it was destroyed by American aircraft. After which they decided to build a structure in honor of the dance duet “Ginger and Fred”.

This lotus-shaped temple is a Baha'i House of Worship where anyone can come, regardless of religion. Guests of the temple are greeted only by white walls and the inscription on the ceiling - “God is above all.” The creators wanted to emphasize that a person with any faith can visit the temple and pray to his god.

Read also: Fantastic street art from around the planet

Judging by these photographs, give the architect free rein and he will be able to design a building of any shape and size. We have collected 33 extraordinary houses to show you and for each you can see the position on the world map so that you can visit them live 😉. Join us!

1 Surreal House/Mind House (Barcelona, ​​Spain) map

Mind House is a building located at the entrance to Park Güell, designed by the architect Antoni Gaudi, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

2 Crooked House/Krzywy Domek (Sopot, Poland) map

Located in the Polish city of Sopot, this building is a popular landmark for tourists and photographers. The inspiration for the unusual shape of the building came from the Polish fairytale illustrations of Jan Marcin Szanser and Per Dahlberg.

3 Stone House/Casa do Penedo (Portugal) map

The house got its name because it was built on the basis of four large boulders, which serve as its foundation, walls and ceiling. Construction began in 1972 and lasted about two years until 1974.

4 Lotus Temple (New Delhi, India) map

The main temple of the Bahai religion in India and neighboring countries, built in 1986. A huge building made of snow-white marble in the shape of a blooming lotus flower.

5 Cathedral/Catedral Metropolitana de Brasília (Brasilia, Brazil) map

Catholic Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Brasilia. Built in the modernist style according to the design of the famous architect Oscar Niemeyer. When designing, Oscar Niemeyer was inspired by Liverpool Cathedral. The building itself consists of 16 hyperboloid columns, symbolizing hands raised to the sky.

6 Casa Mila/La Pedrera (Barcelona, ​​Spain) map

The residential building, built in 1906-1910 in Barcelona by the architect Antoni Gaudi for the Mila family, is one of the attractions of the Catalan capital. The design of this Gaudi building was innovative for its time: a well-thought-out natural ventilation system makes it possible to avoid air conditioning, interior partitions in each of the apartments of the house can be moved at your discretion, and there is an underground garage.

7 Atomium (Brussels, Belgium) map

One of the main attractions and symbol of Brussels. The Atomium was designed for the opening of the 1958 World's Fair by architect Andre Waterkein as a symbol of the atomic age and the peaceful uses of atomic energy.

8 Museum of Contemporary Art (Niteroi, Brazil) map

The famous architectural creation of Oscar Niemeyer in the modernist style. The building took five years to construct and was completed in 1996. The sixteen-meter-tall concrete smooth cylindrical structure on a thin leg with a glass belt simultaneously looks like both a UFO and an exotic plant growing on the edge of a cliff.

9 Kansas City Central Library (Missouri, USA) map

For a time, the façade of the Kansas City Central Library was designed as a bookshelf composed of various books. It looked impressive)

10 “The Hobbit House” (Wales, UK) map

The house was built with maximum consideration for the environment and provided a unique opportunity to live closer to nature.

11 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, USA) map

The choice of site for the construction of the Guggenheim Museum was on a site adjacent to the huge green area of ​​Central Park between 88th and 89th streets on Fifth Avenue. When designing the building, architect Frank Lloyd Wright moved away from existing models and invited viewers to take the elevator to the top floor and go down in an internal continuous spiral, examining the exhibition along the way, both on the ramp itself and in the adjacent halls.

12 Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain) map

The museum building was designed by American-Canadian architect Frank Gehry and was opened to the public in 1997. The building is immediately recognized as one of the most spectacular deconstructivist buildings in the world. Architect Philip Johnson called it "the greatest building of our time"

Located on the embankment, the building embodies the abstract idea of ​​a futuristic ship, perhaps for interplanetary travel. He has also been compared to a bird, an airplane, Superman, an artichoke and a blooming rose.

13 Habitat 67/Habitat 67 (Montreal, Canada) map

Residential complex in Montreal, which was designed by architect Moshe Safdie in 1966-1967. The complex was built for the start of Expo 67, one of the largest world exhibitions of that time, the theme of which was houses and residential construction.

The cube is the basis of this structure. 354 cubes stacked on top of each other made it possible to create this gray building with 146 apartments. Most apartments have a private rooftop garden for the neighbor below. The style of construction is brutalism.

14 House of Music/Casa da musica (Porto, Portugal) map

Designed by Rem Koolhaas, the concert hall in the historic center of Porto is home to the city's three orchestras. The construction of a building of an unusual shape required the implementation of new engineering solutions. It was carried out in 2001-2005. in connection with Porto's functions as the European Capital of Culture. The project proposed by Koolhaas received wide recognition in the architectural community. Thus, the architectural critic of The New York Times Nikolai Urusov called the House of Music “the most attractive” project of Koolhaas, comparing it with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

15 Olympic Stadium (Montreal, Canada) map

It was built as the main sports arena for the 1976 Summer Olympics. It hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. Canada's largest stadium by capacity.

16 Nautilus House (Mexico City, Mexico) map

The design of the house is very innovative, unusual and daring. Architect Javier Senosiein decided to bring marine forms into architecture and created a house in the shape of a shell.

17 National Library of Belarus/National Library of Belarus (Minsk, Belarus) map

The building is a rhombicuboctahedron, 73.6 m high (23 floors) and weighing 115,000 tons (not including books). Unusual is the lighting of the building, which is a giant multi-color screen based on LED clusters, which turns on every day at sunset and runs until midnight. The design and patterns on it are constantly changing.

18 National Center for the Performing Arts/国家大剧院 (Beijing, China) map

It is an ellipsoidal dome made of glass and titanium, rising in the middle of an artificial reservoir, across the road from Lake Zhongnanhai. The three main halls of the theater can accommodate at least 6,500 spectators.

The architect was the Frenchman Paul Andreux; construction lasted from December 2001 to December 2007. The construction of such a huge futuristic building in the historical center of the Chinese capital caused great controversy, both from the point of view of its incompatibility with the urban environment, and because of the exorbitant and constantly increasing costs during construction.

19 Conch Shell House (Isla Mujeres, Mexico) map

The house was designed by Octavio Ocampo, one of Mexico's most famous artists, and his brother. The house is a perfect manifestation of his surreal blend of summer house and unique underwater aesthetic.

20 House Attack (Vienna, Austria) map

Erwin Wurm is known for his unusual, sometimes humorous and sometimes mysterious works. He created such an intriguing installation that surprised passersby.

21 Library Alexandrina/ مكتبة الإسكندرية الجديدة ‎ (Alexandria, Egypt) map

The idea of ​​building a library on the site of the ancient Library of Alexandria arose in the early 1970s and belonged to a group of professors at the University of Alexandria. The complex has a very expressive architecture. The concept of the library building is based on the symbolism of the south. The building is like a solar disk, raised to the south and inclined to the north. The glass surfaces of the north-sloping roof allow northern light to flow down into the library.

22 Cube Houses/Kubuswoning (Rotterdam, Netherlands) map

A series of houses built in Rotterdam and Helmond to an innovative design by architect Piet Blom in 1984. Blom's radical solution was that he installed the parallelepiped of the house not on the edge, as usual, but on the top, and with this top it rests (visually) on the hexagonal pylon. In Rotterdam there are 38 such houses and 2 more super-cubes, and all the houses are articulated into a single structure. From a bird's eye view, the complex has an intricate appearance, reminiscent of an impossible triangle.

23 The ideal palace of the postman Cheval/Le Palais idéal (France) map

The creator of this most impressive monument of naive architecture is Joseph Ferdinand Cheval. From the age of 13 he worked as a baker's assistant, and in 1867 he received the position of rural postman. Delivering mail, he traveled 25 km every day, putting stones of unusual natural shapes into a wheelbarrow. Of these, for 33 years, alone, in his free time, day and night, in any weather, with the help of the most simple tools, he realized his dream - a palace beyond all imagination.

24 Hallgrímskirkja Church (Reykjavik, Iceland) map

The design of the church was developed in 1937 by the architect Gudjoun Samuelson. It took 38 years to build the church. The church is located in the center of Reykjavik, and is visible from any part of the city. It has become one of the main attractions of the city.

25 Eden project (Cornwall, UK) map

Botanical garden in Cornwall, UK. Includes a greenhouse consisting of several geodesic domes, under which plants from all over the world are collected. The area of ​​the greenhouses is 22,000 square meters. m. The domes are made of hundreds of hexagons and several pentagons connecting the entire structure. Each of the hexagons and pentagons is made of durable, translucent plastic. The first greenhouse features tropical vegetation, the second - Mediterranean vegetation.

26 The Museum of Play (Rochester, USA) map

Interesting architectural design of the National Museum of Play in Rochester. The museum provides a huge interactive collection of exhibits dedicated to the history and exploration of gaming. A resort complex on the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. The complex consists of two buildings and a bridge connecting them, which housed 1,539 rooms. Initially, the dome cells had acrylic inserts, but after the fire of 1976, only the metal frame remained. Now the Biosphere has become a recognizable symbol of the city. The house is in the neoclassical style, standing upside down. At WonderWorks you can have great food, laugh a lot, lie on a yoga bed, ride a virtual roller coaster, control a ball with your mind, find yourself in the desert or inside a soap bubble, and much more. In total, WonderWorks has about one hundred and fifty interactive activities. Longaberger's main office was built in the shape of one of the company's products - a wicker basket. The building has seven floors, huge handles weigh almost 150 tons. The museum is a gallery of contemporary art, opened as part of the European Capital of Culture program in 2003. The building concept was developed by London architects Peter Cook and Colin Fournier. The unofficial name is Friendly Alien. The building was built in a blob style, sharply contrasting with the surrounding buildings. The base of the building is made of reinforced concrete, the outer shell is made of bluish plastic panels. The Kunsthaus looks decent despite the very low budget for similar cultural buildings in large cities. The interior decoration, according to Colin Fournier, should resemble a magician's black box. The facade is implemented as a programmable media installation. A residential complex in Darmstadt in the shape of a spiral, designed by the Austrian architect and artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and characterized by the complete absence of rectangular shapes. Other names are “Wooden Skyscraper”, “Solombala Skyscraper”. A wooden 13-story house built in Solombala (north of Arkhangelsk) by businessman Nikolai Sutyagin. The house was partially dismantled in December 2008 by court decision as an unauthorized construction. On May 5, 2012, the remaining part of the wooden skyscraper was destroyed by fire. It was one of the tallest private wooden buildings in Russia, although inferior in height to some tiered wooden churches.

We fly into space, race to build skyscrapers, clone living organisms and do many things that only recently seemed impossible. And at the same time, they are still unable to solve the mysteries of the builders and thinkers who lived thousands of years ago. An ancient cobblestone weighing a hundred tons surprises us more than a computer half the size of a palm.

Goseck Circle, Germany, Goseck

The ring system of concentric ditches and wooden enclosures was created between 5000 and 4800 BC. The complex has now been reconstructed. Presumably it was used as a solar calendar.

Reptilian statues, French Polynesia, Nuku Hiva island

The statues in a place called Temehea Tohua in the Marquesas Islands depict strange creatures whose appearance in the popular consciousness is associated with aliens. They are different: there are large, large-mouthed “reptilians,” and there are others: with small bodies and disproportionately large elongated helmet heads with huge eyes. They have one thing in common - an angry expression on their faces. Whether these were aliens from other worlds or just masked priests is unknown. The statues date back to around the beginning of the 2nd millennium.

Stonehenge, UK, Salisbury

Altar, observatory, tomb, calendar? Scientists have not come to a consensus. Five thousand years ago, a ring ditch and ramparts around it with a diameter of 115 m appeared. A few centuries later, ancient builders brought here 80 four-ton stones, and a couple of centuries later - 30 megaliths weighing 25 tons. The stones were installed in a circle and in the shape of a horseshoe. The form in which Stonehenge has survived to this day is largely the result of human activity in recent centuries. People continued to work on the stones: peasants chipped away pieces of amulets from them, tourists marked the territory with inscriptions, and restorers figured out for the ancients how things stood correctly here.

Pyramid of Kukulcan, Mexico, Chichen Itza

Every year, on the days of the spring and autumn equinox, thousands of tourists gather at the foot of the sanctuary of the supreme Mayan deity - the Feathered Serpent. They witness the miracle of Kukulkan's "appearance": the Serpent moves down along the balustrade of the main staircase. The illusion is created by the play of triangular shadows cast by the nine platforms of the pyramid at the moment when the setting sun illuminates its northwestern corner for 10 minutes. If the sanctuary had been shifted even a degree, nothing like this would have happened.

Carnac stones, France, Brittany, Carnac

In total, about 4,000 megaliths up to four meters high are arranged in slender alleys near the city of Karnak. The rows run parallel to each other or fan out, forming circles here and there. The complex dates back to the 5th–4th millennium BC. There were legends in Brittany that it was the wizard Merlin who turned the ranks of Roman legionnaires to stone.

Stone balls, Costa Rica

Pre-Columbian artifacts scattered near the Pacific coast of Costa Rica were discovered in the 1930s by banana plantation workers. Hoping to find gold inside, vandals destroyed many of the balls. Now most of the remaining ones are kept in museums. The diameter of some stones reaches 2.5 meters, weight - 15 tons. Their purpose is unknown.

Georgia Tablets, USA, Georgia, Elbert

In 1979, someone under the pseudonym R.C. Christian ordered the construction company to manufacture and install the monument - a structure of six granite monoliths weighing more than 100 tons. The ten commandments to descendants are engraved on the four side plates in eight languages, including Russian. The last point says: “Don’t be a cancer for the Earth, leave room for nature too!”

Nuraghi of Sardinia, Italy, Sardinia

Semiconical structures resembling huge beehives (up to 20 m high) appeared in Sardinia at the end of the 2nd millennium BC, before the arrival of the Romans. The towers were built without a foundation, from stone blocks superimposed on each other, not held together by any mortar and supported only by their own gravity. The purpose of the nuraghe is unclear. It is characteristic that archaeologists have more than once discovered miniature bronze models of these towers during excavations.

Sacsahuaman, Peru, Cusco

The archaeological park at an altitude of 3,700 meters and an area of ​​3,000 hectares is located north of the capital of the Inca Empire. The defensive and at the same time temple complex was built at the turn of the 15th–16th centuries. The zigzag battlements, reaching 400 meters in length and six in height, are made of multi-ton stone blocks, including 200-ton ones. How the Incas installed these blocks, how they adjusted them one after another is unknown. From above, Sacahuaman looks like the toothy head of a Cusco puma (the city was founded in the shape of the sacred animal of the Incas).

Arkaim, Russia, Chelyabinsk region

The Bronze Age settlement (III–II millennium BC) is located at the same latitude as Stonehenge. Coincidence? Scientists don't know. Two rows of circular walls (the diameter of the far one is 170 m), a drainage and sewer system, a well in every house are evidence of a highly developed culture. The monument was discovered by students and schoolchildren from an archaeological expedition in 1987. (The photo shows a reconstruction model.)

Newgrange, Ireland, Dublin

The Celts called it the fairy mound and considered it the home of one of their main gods. The circular structure made of stone, earth and rubble with a diameter of 85 meters was erected more than 5,000 years ago. A corridor leads inside the mound, ending in a ritual chamber. On the days of the winter solstice, this chamber is brightly illuminated for 15–20 minutes by a ray of sun falling through the window above the entrance to the tunnel.

Coral Castle, USA, Florida, Homestead

The bizarre structure was built single-handedly over 28 years (1923–1951) by Latvian emigrant Edward Lindskalnin in honor of a lost love. How a man of modest stature and build moved huge blocks in space remains a mystery.

Pyramids of Yonaguni, Japan, Ryukyu Archipelago

Monuments of huge stone platforms and pillars located underwater at a depth of 5 to 40 meters were discovered in 1986. The main one of these structures has the shape of a pyramid. Not far from it there is a large platform with steps, similar to a stadium with spectator stands. One of the objects resembles a huge head, like the Moai statues on Easter Island. There is debate in the scientific community: many believe that the formations lying on the ocean floor are exclusively of natural origin. But loners like Masaaki Kimura, a professor at the University of the Ryukyu, who has repeatedly dived to the ruins, insist that there was a human presence here.

Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe, Masvingo

One of the largest and oldest stone structures in South Africa was built from the 11th century, and was abandoned in the 15th for an unknown reason. All structures (up to 11 meters in height and 250 in length) were erected using the dry masonry method. Presumably, up to 18,000 people lived in the settlement.

Delhi Column, India, New Delhi

The iron column, over 7 meters high and weighing over 6 tons, is part of the Qutub Minar architectural complex. It was cast in honor of King Chandragupta II in 415. For reasons that are unclear, the column, which is almost 100% iron, is virtually resistant to corrosion. Scientists are trying to explain this fact with various reasons: the special skill and technology of ancient Indian blacksmiths, dry air and specific climatic conditions in the Delhi region, the formation of a protective shell - in particular, as a result of the fact that the Hindus anointed the sacred monument with oils and incense. Ufologists, as usual, see in the column yet another evidence of the intervention of extraterrestrial intelligence. But the secret of “stainless steel” has not yet been solved.

Nazca Lines, Peru, Nazca Plateau

A 47-meter spider, a 93-meter hummingbird, a 134-meter eagle, a lizard, an alligator, a snake, other zoomorphic and humanoid creatures... Giant images from a bird's eye view seem to be scratched on a rock devoid of vegetation, as if with one hand, in the same style . In fact, these are furrows up to 50 cm deep and up to 135 cm wide, made at different times in the 5th-7th centuries.

Nabta Observatory, Nubia, Sahara

In the sands next to a dry lake lies the oldest archaeoastronomical monument on the planet, 1000 years older than Stonehenge. The location of the megaliths makes it possible to determine the day of the summer solstice. Archaeologists believe that people lived here seasonally, when there was water in the lake, and therefore needed a calendar.

Antikythera Mechanism, Greece, Antikythera

A mechanical device with dials, hands and gears was found at the beginning of the 20th century on a sunken ship sailing from Rhodes (100 BC). After lengthy research and reconstruction, scientists found that the device served astronomical purposes - it made it possible to monitor the movement of celestial bodies and make very complex calculations.

Baalbek slabs, Lebanon

The Roman temple complex dates back to the 1st-2nd centuries AD. But the Romans did not build sanctuaries out of nowhere. At the base of the Temple of Jupiter lie more ancient slabs weighing 300 tons. The western retaining wall is made up of a series of "trilithons" - three limestone blocks, each over 19 m long, 4 m high and weighing about 800 tons. Roman technology was not able to lift such weight. By the way, not far from the complex, another block has been lying for more than one thousand years - under 1000 tons.

Gobekli Tepe, Türkiye

The complex on the Armenian Highlands is considered the oldest of the largest megalithic structures (approximately X-IX millennium BC). At that time, people were still hunting and gathering, but someone was able to erect circles of huge steles with images of animals.