Thursday, August 14, 2008

Harbor of Rio de Janeiro

The Rio de Janeiro harbor is a stunning natural setting in south-east Brazil, stretching inland for concerning 20 miles. Many people know the bay for its huge statue of Jesus Christ – known as Christ the Redeemer or "Christo Redentor" – which looms on the Corcovado Mountain overlooking the bay.

There is some mistake in the name; Rio de Janeiro means River of January, but it is on the shores of Guanabara Bay. The Portuguese sailors who came early were in a naming spree; establish a calm water body within 20 miles of the shore they took it for the mouth of a river and named it Rio de Janeiro -the River of January as they exposed it in the month of January. Now the bay is Guanabara Bay its original name called by the natives and the enormous natural harbor functioning within the bay and the near city all are ‘Harbor of Rio de Janeiro’. It is the capital of the Brazilian state with the similar name -Rio de Janeiro.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's main coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for 2,600 kilometers (1,616 mi) in excess of an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometers (132,974 sq mi) along the north-eastern shore of Australia.

The Great Barrier Reef is a system of islands and coral reefs that is home to a huge biological variety of plants and animals. In addition to its ecological value, the area offers visitors the possibility to do a diversity of activities – including scuba diving, snorkeling, watersports and birdwatching – and a lot of places along the Queensland coast also present boat trips to the reef on a daily basis.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a huge rift in the Colorado Plateau that exposes uplifted Proterozoic and Paleozoic strata. The Grand Canyon is unmatched all through the world for the vistas it offers to visitors on the rim. It is not the deepest canyon in the world — together the Barranca del Cobre in Northern Mexico and Hell's Canyon on the Oregon-Idaho border are deeper — other than Grand Canyon is known for its overwhelming size and its complicated and colorful landscape. Physically it is significant because of the thick series of ancient rocks that are wonderfully preserved and bare in the walls of the canyon. These rock layers evidence much of the early geologic history of the North American continent. Grand Canyon is also one of the majority spectacular examples of natural erosion in the world.

Monday, August 4, 2008

The Pyramid at Chichen Itza

The Pyramid at Chichén Itzá (before 800 A.D.) Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, the most well-known Mayan temple city, served as the supporting and economic middle of the Mayan civilization. Its a variety of structures - the pyramid of Kukulkan, the Temple of Chac Mool, the Hall of the Thousand Pillars, and the Playing meadow of the Prisoners – can still be seen today and are affectionate of an extraordinary commitment to architectural space and work of art. The pyramid itself was the last, and debatably the greatest, of all Mayan temples.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Petra

Petra lies concerning 3-5 hours south of modern Amman, about 2 hours north of Aqaba, on the boundaries of the mountainous desert of the Wadi Araba. The city is bordered by towering hills of rust-coloured sandstone which gave the city some natural defense next to invaders.

The site is semi-arid, the friable sandstone which allowable the Nabataeans to carve their temples and tombs into the rock breakdown easily to sand.The colour of the rock ranges from pale yellow or white during rich reds to the darker brown of more resistant rocks. The twisted strata of different-coloured rock form whorls and waves of colour in the rock face, which the Nabataeans browbeaten in their architecture.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Christ Redeemer

Statue of Christ the Redeemer is situated at the top of Corcovado Mountain at a height of 710 meters.

Statue of Christ the Redeemer Brazil is surely one of the world's best known and the majority visited monuments.

The statue of Christ the Redeemer represents Jesus standing with outspread, welcoming arms and is one of the most well-known symbols of this lively city.

The entire monument of statue of Christ the Redeemer is 38m elevated with the statue accounting for 30m, the span from finger tip to fingertip is 28m and there is a small chapel housed in the bottom. As a vantage point it offers superb views of downtown Rio de Janeiro, the bay, Sugarloaf Mountain and Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches.

The monument of statue of Christ the Redeemer was inaugurated on the day of Our Lady of Aparecida, 12 Oct 1931 by then President of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas and cardinal Dom Sebastião Leme .

The innovative design of Statue of Christ the Redeemer Brazil was done by a Brazilian, named Heitor da Silva Costa. He was also the engineer in charge of the construction. He shared the project with French sculptor Paul Landowski. It was built from 1926 to 1931, with funds raised from donations. There's a chapel for 150 people on the stand of the statue.


Friday, July 25, 2008

Roman Colosseum


The Colosseum, which stands near the center of contemporary Rome, is possibly the finest existing example of antique Roman architectural engineering. One of the most well-known ruins in the world, thousands of tourists visit it every year.

The Colosseum is shaped like a contemporary football stadium and could seat 45,000 viewers. The four-story facility is 161 feet high, about 600 feet long and 500 feet wide. Events such as fights flanked by gladiators and between men and wild animals were detained there. Awnings could be hung from the walls to defend spectators from the sun.

The oval-shaped, sand-covered floor of the arena at first could be flooded for water spectacles. Later, though, cages for people and animals were installed under the arena. A wall alienated the arena from spectators whose seats rested on sloping concrete ropes as in many stadiums today.

Construction of the Colosseum started during the reign of Emperor Vespasian, who ruled from A.D. 69 to 79. building was completed in A.D. 80.