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| The Buddhas of Bamiyan before destruction watanafghanistan.tumblr.com |
In reviewing the page view count this morning, I noticed we're closing in on the 15,000 quite rapidly. Fantastic. Keep up the great work. Greetings to Nutmeg UK.
After celebrating the newly inscribed cultural landmarks around the world, I decided to do something a tad different today. Instead of singing the praises of more wondrous sites of global cultural heritage, I thought I would look at ruined landmarks around the world. The inspiration for this post comes from Sabrina Romano's recent article, "10 Landmarked Ruins Around the World Including NYC's Renwick Smallpox Hospital and The Buddha's Birthplace in Nepal," for Untapped Cities. Well-known ruins, like the Buddhas of Bamiyan, The Colosseum, and the Egyptian Pyramids can be landmarked but they're not the only ruins. Untapped Cities did some research and came up with a list of lesser known ruins around the world, starting with one in New York City.
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| Renwick Smallpox Hospital New York City, New York hoursofdarkness.com |
New York City, New York
Before the end of the nineteenth century, it was standard practice to isolate patients suffering from contagious diseases such as smallpox in hospitals on New York City's other islands such as North Brother Island's typhoid sanatorium. Closer to Manhattan was Roosevelt Island which, until recent history, was the place to find those who did not quite fit into society: prisoners, lunatics, and smallpox victims. Roosevelt Island is the site of the Renwick Smallpox Hospital, a strategically located sanatorium located far enough away from the healthy population. The hospital was built in 1856 in the Gothic-revival manner and designed by James Renwick Jr, also know for designing St. Patrick's Cathedral on Madison Avenue. The hospital operated for nineteen years (closing in 1875), treating about 7,000 patients. The hospital was later relocated to North Brother Island because Blackwell Island was over populated and the building was converted into a nurse's dormitory before being abandoned in 1950. In 1975, the New York Landmarks Commission designated the building a city landmark and the sole landmarked ruin in New York City. The structure was reinforced to prevent it from falling down. Work on the Four Freedoms Park further reinforced the hospital with the idea of turning it into a visitors center.
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| Pavlopetri Peloponnese, Greece moboru-planetx.com |
Pavlopetri
Peloponnese, Greece
You will have to strap on your scuba gear if you want see Pavlopetri in Peloponnese, Greece. Pavlopetri was the first underwater city to be discover. This city, possibly Mycenaean, was submerged around 1000 BCE by either an earthquake or tsunami. Currently, it is protected by the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. The site is 30,000 square meters completely laid out city with streets, courtyards, buildings, graves and tombs.
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| Pont du Gard Aqueduct Nimes, France anciennt.eu |
Pont du Gard AqueductNimes, France
The three-level Pont du Gard Aqueduct was built by imperial Roman architects and hydraulic engineers, measuring 360 meters-long and fifty-feet tall in Nimes during the first century CE. The bridge was mainly constructed using tons of soft, yellow limestone from nearby a nearby quarry. Pont du Gard Aqueduct spans the Gardon River, supplying Nimes with water. It is an engineering marvel, the largest arch measures an amazing twenty-five meters, the greatest in the Imperial Roman world.
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| Coral Castle Miami, Florida greatdreams.com |
Miami, Florida
This is not an actual building, it is really a sculpture garden made entirely out of coral rock. Created between 1923 and 1951 by Ed Leedskainin using 1,100 tons of coral. The real mystery is that no one has any clue as to what tools or skills were used to create this work. What is known is that Ed Leedskainin did not have any access to machinery. The sculpture garden includes a functioning rocking chair and a nine ton gate that opens with just a touch of a finger.
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| Maya Devi Temple Lumbini, Nepal en.wikipedia.org |
Lumbini, Nepal
Lumbini, Nepal has become quite the famous pilgrimage place since the Buddha was born in the garden in c.623 BCE. The ruins of the Maya Devi Temple are a brick structure built in the cross-wall system. Until recently information about The Buddha was mainly found in the scriptures, however, archeologists have found tangible evidence of the deity's life which may place the date of his birth further back in time. One of the new discoveries are ancient tree roots dating back to the sixth century BCE, correlating to The Buddha's birth.
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| Chavin de Huantar, Peru Alex Guerra Terra alexguerra.blogspot.com |
Chavin de Huantar
Peru
Chavin de Huantar is an enormous historic complex 3,150 meters above sea level in Peru. Even though Machu Picchu gets all the attention, Chavin de Huantar is no less impressive. The complex dates back to about 1300 BCE and includes ruins of the original temple with underground tunnels, a series of stairs, and a pyramid-like building. Hidden within the temple is a thirteen-foot tall granite carving of the deity Lanzon de Chavin, central to Chavin culture.
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| Detail of Great Zimbabwe Ruin zimtree.wordpress.com |
Between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, the remains of the main city of the Bantu City of the Shona were built. This monument was constructed out of granite, using a dry-walling method, featured walls reaching about 20 meters in height requiring a high level of masonry expertise. Researchers approximate that the site was inhabited by 5,000 to 30,000 people before it collapsed into ruin. Deterioration seems to have been caused by drought and overgrazing, exhausting the soil. Currently, the former capital of the Queen of Sheba is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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| Saranta Kolones Fortress Pafos, Greece untappedcities.com |
Pafos, Greece
Translating from the Greek, Saranta Kolones refers to the forty grand columns found on this Greek archeological site. The fortress originally stood during the 13th century Byzantine period and built by the Lusignans. In 1922 it was destroyed by an earthquake.
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| Roman Temple Baalbek, Lebanon depositphotos.com |
Roman Temple
Baalbek, Lebanon
Around 9,000 BCE Baalbek was a popular pilgrimage site for worshipping the Phoenician sky deity Baal. Baalbek remained a pilgrimage site until Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire around 313 CE. The most important ruin in the city is the six-columned Temple of Jupiter, standing seven meters high.
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| The Buddhas of Bamiyan before destruction watanafghanistan.tumblr.com |
The Buddhas of Bamiyan
Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan
We are right back to where we started today, the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Until their much lamented destruction by the nefarious Taliban in 2001, these giant standing Buddhas were lodged in niches in the Bamiyan Cliffs. The statues were sculpted from rock then finished with plaster and paint during the fourth and fifth century. They were later decorated, by some monarchs, with jewel. The giant Buddhas were part of a collection of Buddhist sanctuaries that date back to the first through thirteenth centuries CE.
As we celebrate our well-known cultural heritage landmarks, we should remember that there are sites around the world that have fallen into ruin, yet hold a place in our global heritage. They may have been abandoned and left to the elements but they deserve our attention and praise.
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