The history of civilization is filled with incredible feats of architecture and human
ingenuity.
But have you ever looked at world-famous structures and wondered how the heck they were made?
Keep watching to discover the truth behind these landmarks.
Building a bridge is always hard work, but building one that stretches over a mile across
the Golden Gate Strait in San Francisco is a whole other level of difficulty.
This was the reality that the city faced in 1916, and it looked like it couldn't be done.
A bridge that long would easily cost hundreds of millions of dollars, an unthinkable sum
at the time.
But Joseph Strauss, an engineer from Chicago, had a better idea.
His concept for a bridge would cost less than $50 million.
Bureaucratic delays and an angry campaign from local ferry companies held up construction
until 1933.
While the bridge's construction was considered a major stepping stone in safety at the time,
11 people died while making it.
Another 19 were saved from death by a net strung under the bridge's construction.
They began to call themselves the "Halfway to Hell Club."
The Golden Gate Bridge was completed in May 1937, six months earlier than planned.
It also came in under budget, with a final cost of $39 million.
It was painted its current hue to make it more visible to ships and planes.
The Paris skyline would look empty today without the Eiffel Tower, which was designed and built
from 1884 to 1889.
Weirdly enough, it was originally only meant to be a temporary structure for the 1889 World's
Fair in Paris, and it was only supposed to stay up for 20 years.
But over those two decades, Parisians fell in love with it and decided to keep it around
permanently.
While Gustave Eiffel is typically credited for the design, Maurice Koechlin and Emile
Nouguier, employees of Eiffel's company, actually came up with the initial designs.
They specifically set out to build the tallest structure in the world.
No building had ever reached more than 300 meters by that point, and using wrought iron
in a lattice shape was key to achieving just that.
That material was lighter than stone, but also stronger.
Eiffel and his crew were no strangers to lattice work, as they had to build the frame for the
Statue of Liberty 20 years before.
Construction began in 1887.
After the tower's completion, people balked at the fact that it served no real purpose,
though it's now one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world, and no amount of
vengeful Liam Neeson can change that.
"I will tear down the Eiffel Tower if I have to!"
The most iconic building in Seattle, Washington is the Space Needle, a 600-foot-tall tower
that looks like a UFO with some comically large landing gear.
The story of its creation is almost as unusual as its design.
In fact, the initial design didn't come from an architect or engineer, but rather, a hotel
magnate and chairman of the 1962 World's Fair named Edward E. Carlson.
He had no art or design background; he simply sketched a centerpiece for the fair on a napkin
in 1959.
He then partnered with designer John Graham, who polished up the concept.
Carlson originally wanted something like a balloon tethered to the ground.
Graham had the idea for it to instead look like a flying saucer.
He also added the unique base to it, as opposed to the simple tether Carlson had in mind.
Construction began in 1961 to have the structure ready for the fair the following year.
The construction process was wildly unsafe, like something out of an over-the-top job
safety video.
Workers walked on wooden planks hundreds of feet in the air with no handrails or safety
equipment.
Thankfully, nobody died during construction, but to say that safety standards are stricter
today would be a massive understatement.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a popular landmark both because of its incline and in spite of it.
Construction began in 1173, and it was meant to be a bell tower for the cathedral next
to it.
It was intended to be eight stories tall, but after five years and only two floors complete,
the builders had a big problem: the tower was starting to tilt.
Because the foundation only went three meters into ground that later turned out to mostly
be clay, sand, and shells, it wasn't strong enough to remain upright.
Around this time, Pisa and its neighbor Genoa went to war, so construction was abandoned
for a century.
When it resumed, engineer Giovanni di Simone attempted to correct the tilt by adding extra
weight to one side, but this had the opposite effect and made it sink even further.
The tower was completed by 1370, though it continued to sink.
This was made even worse in 1838 when an architect decided to dig a tunnel beneath the tower
so that visitors could see the building's crooked base.
It wasn't until the 2000s that engineers were able to halt any further leaning, leaving
the tower stable for most likely at least the next 200 years.
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri is one of the most unique buildings in the world.
While it's 630 feet tall and made of steel and concrete, it's also very light since it's
not a full building and it's hollow on the inside.
It may not be obvious to people who've never been there, but there's actually a small,
golf ball-shaped tram inside that you can ride to the top.
While you might think this would make it more likely to blow over in a stiff wind, that's
actually not the case.
The Arch is quite sturdy, and a 50 mile-per-hour wind will make it sway only about an inch.
And if that sounds alarming, keep in mind that the Arch is built to allow up to 18 inches
of sway.
Construction began on the Arch in 1963 with two massive triangle-shaped supports, and
workers built up section by section from there.
The Arch is in fact one large triangle that starts at the ground, narrows at the top,
and expands back out at the bottom of the other support.
Its shape is actually based on a mathematical formula created by its structural engineer,
Hannskarl Bandel.
"It symbolizes the Midwest, the gateway to the West."
The Pyramids of Giza are part burial chamber, part history museum, and part treasure vault.
While we still don't know everything about how they were built, we do have a pretty good
idea.
And no, it wasn't aliens.
The explanation for how this astounding construction project was pulled off is pretty simple: ramps.
Basically, ancient Egyptians most likely had ramps inside or around pyramids and used a
sled and a bunch of workers to drag massive blocks up them.
While this much is pretty well-accepted as fact by archaeologists, there are still a
lot of unknowns, such as what the ramps were made of, how they were laid out, and just
how the Egyptians were able to cut the enormous stone blocks in the first place.
Even with an efficient system in place, building pyramids was still a long and arduous task.
You could say their construction was history's greatest pyramid scheme.
"It's not a pyramid scheme.
It is a...it's not even a scheme, per se.
It's…"
London's most beloved landmark is surely "Big Ben," the clock tower atop the Palace of Westminster.
"Kids.
“We know.
Big Ben.”
“Parliament."
Its unforgettable chimes are iconic worldwide and even the shape itself is instantly recognizable.
But the clock tower wasn't part of the Palace's first design.
In 1834, the palace burned down, and architect Charles Barry designed the replacement.
But even this revised design didn't include Big Ben at first.
It's worth noting that neither the clock nor the tower is actually named Big Ben.
Instead, that moniker refers to the bells inside the clock tower, and Barry's redesign
actually didn't even include any sort of tower at all.
The clock tower was designed by his collaborator, Augustus Pugin, and the clockwork was designed
by an amateur clockmaker named Edmund Beckett Denison.
The clock was finished in 1854, and the bells inside were completed in 1859.
While the clock tower secured itself a place in history, Pugin didn't fare quite as well.
He was only 32 when he finished his design, but that was his final work.
He died at the age of 40 in 1852.
The Sydney Opera House is one of the most instantly recognizable buildings in the world,
but it very nearly didn't get built at multiple points along its journey.
Spearheaded by Joseph Cahill the Premier of New South Wales, construction began in 1959,
and problems started cropping up basically right away.
The construction site was found not to be settled on sandstone, as originally believed.
Instead, the spot consisted of loose alluvial deposits, which would never hold the weight
of the building as designed.
This was fixed by boring 700 concrete pillars into the ground.
An even bigger problem was that the builders didn't actually know how much the opera house
would weigh, as its one-of-a-kind roof was still being designed.
Fearing the construction would be shut down by his political opponents, Premier Cahill
rushed ahead anyway, and when he died seven months into construction, the project once
again looked doomed.
Cahill's dying wish was that the project be completed.
He would be happy to know that construction did indeed continue onward.
By architect Jørn Utzon's design, the opera house was actually a set of premade pieces
assembled onsite.
A relatively inexperienced architect, Utzon quarreled with engineers about the project's
design and actually quit in 1966, seven years into construction.
The project was completed by another designer, Peter Hill, though Utzon was brought back
to work on a remodel in 1999.
The Colosseum in Rome was built relatively late in the history of the Roman Empire.
This was because there was another building that preceded it, the Domus Aurea, built by
the unpopular Emperor Nero sometime around 64 AD.
The Domus Aurea was built after the fire that burned Rome during Nero's reign, so it could've
theoretically remained standing.
But Nero's successor, Vespasian, opted instead to tear it down, drain its man-made lake,
and then create something new.
The Colosseum was named after The Colossus, a massive statue that originally depicted
Nero and stood on the site but was later modified to represent the Roman god Sol instead.
Vespasian didn't live to see the Colosseum finished.
Instead, his son, Emperor Titus, oversaw its completion.
Amazingly, though, historians have no idea about the identity of the architect who was
responsible for the Colosseum's design.
It could've been one person or several, but the record remains unclear.
It's also worth noting that the Colosseum was one of the first free-standing amphitheaters
in the world.
Instead of being built into a hill or another natural feature, it managed to stay upright
by just being enormous and made of special Roman concrete.
Perhaps one of the most controversial buildings in the world today, the Dome of the Rock is
located on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem.
That site is sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and it's claimed to be the location
of both Solomon's and Herod's temples.
Since there's a lot of history between these three major religions, the shrine at this
place is a source of much contention, as one can imagine.
The Dome of the Rock was constructed around 687 AD as a shrine for pilgrims who visited
the city.
Its design is fairly simple, but the building has been modified numerous times throughout
the centuries as it's changed hands due to the constant battles over the area.
The dome has been replaced or rebuilt many times due to earthquakes and war.
The original dome lasted until 1057 when it collapsed due to an earthquake.
Neither the original dome nor its replacement had the famous gold sheen that it sports today,
though.
That was added in the 1960s.
Still, the monument has moved between a number of groups throughout the centuries, including
the Crusaders and the Ottoman Empire, with each putting its own various touches on it,
thus making it truly one-of-a-kind.
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