When planning a trip, it’s not uncommon to make sure you see as many attractions as possible, making sure not to miss any. Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t always work that way. With so many beautiful and historic sites to see, it can be difficult to decide which one to cut.
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Lucky for you, we’ve compiled a list of places so breathtaking, they’re more than worth planning an entire trip to see. All of the items on this list are amazing architectural pieces that have an equally amazing history. Something else they have in common? They are all absolutely worth a visit.
ten St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, Italy
When you go to Rome, it is extremely difficult to miss the historical and religious monuments. Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City is a beautiful work of art designed by some of the best artists in 1600s history, including Michelangelo, Bramante, Bernini, as well as Maderno.
The church is considered one of the holiest churches in the world, despite the fact that it is not the main church of the Roman Catholic religion. The late Renaissance church is also said to be where the body of Saint Peter lies!
9 Stonehenge, Salisbury, England
Located just outside of Salisbury, England is one of the country’s most mysterious sites. If you’ve ever wondered how Easter Island heads came to be, you’ll be thinking the same.
The strange structures, which are said to have been built between 3000 and 2000 BC. AD to 2000 BC. It is one of the UK’s most popular tourist spots, also attracting architects and archaeologists. The World Heritage site is also believed to have been associated with funeral rituals from its earliest times.
8 Petra, Jordan
Petra, a colony in the Arab country of Jordan, is home to Al Khazneh, which translates to “The Treasury”. This may sound familiar to those of you who are Indiana Jones fans since it was the entry of the Holy Grail in the famous film.
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The beautiful architecture in the solid, pink rock has earned the site the nickname “Rose City”. It is also an extremely old and historic site, estimated to have been colonized as early as 9000 BC. This popular site sees around 800,000 tourists each year.
7 Taj Mahal, Uttar Pradesh, India
One of the most iconic structures in the world, the Taj Mahal, has a pretty amazing history. If your history teacher hasn’t covered it, here it is: In the early 1630s, the wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan died during the birth of her 14th child. In his sorrow, the emperor commissioned the design and construction of the Taj Mahal, a temple dedicated to his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
Supposedly, Shah Jahan was so proud of the white marble temple that he cut off the hands of architects and builders to ensure that they would never build such a structure again.
6 The Parthenon, Athens, Greece
Athens, Greece is already an amazing city with a great deal of history and beauty behind it. However, the old crumbling structure that lies within its borders has a history of its own. The Parthenon was a temple built in honor of the Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena Parthenos (Athena the Virgin).
Work on the structure began in 447 BC and continued until 438 BC, which is quite impressive considering the time and resources that workers would have required to complete such a structure. The Parthenon has remained relatively intact, although it has suffered some physical damage over the years.
5 Machu Picchu, Peru
Machu Picchu is a ruined city in pre-colonial America (especially the Inca Empire) and was once home to Native American settlers. From 1438 to 1533, the colony actually represented a fairly large portion of South America’s population.
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Thought to be built in the 12th century, the population was severely lacking in the resources that the old world had for years. However, they were very resourceful and were successful in making things like farming possible. Now you can do the four-day hike to the top of the mountain and admire the ancient civilization, which is slowly starting to crumble.
4 Moai statues, Easter Island, Chile
The Moai statues that guard the Chilean island, Easter Island, have baffled historians and archaeologists since their discovery in 1722. Now the only things we can collect from the disturbing guardians is that they have been constructed from volcanic ash by our deceased ancestors in around 1200 AD.
With nearly 1,000 of them littering the island, they are a reminder that even though humans have become quite advanced in technology nowadays, humans were already advanced. There are many structures around the world that look a lot like the heads of Easter Island, in that we don’t really know how they would have been constructed.
3 Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul is already an incredibly historic city. During the Byzantine Empire (which was once described as the Eastern Roman Empire), the man in charge, Constantine, actually named Istanbul the capital of his great empire, but under a very different name: Constantinople.
Hagia Sophia was a Greek Orthodox church that was built around this time, but became an Ottoman mosque after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. It is now a museum which you can enter and admire the magnificent architecture of around 360 AD. It was once considered the “eighth wonder of the world”.
2 The Colosseum, Rome, Italy
The Colosseum is one of the best-known structures in Rome and is known as the amphitheater where gladiators fought to the death. Construction of the large amphitheater began somewhere between AD 70 and 73, but was not completed until AD 80.
As soon as it was completed, it was recognized as the largest amphitheater in the Roman world. Its first 100 days of operation were marked by 100 full days of games, which is long enough to keep this going! Now the historic structure is collapsing, suffering quite a bit of damage after natural disasters, inclement weather and (unfortunately) acts of vandalism.
1 Cairo, Egypt
As the capital of the South African country, Cairo is home to many historic sites, including the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, which lie just on its outskirts, as well as the Egyptian Museum, which features 27 mummies and over 12,000 objects to explore. . It is not possible to choose just one view!
Once a very important shipping port when the Silk Road became a little less important, today the city is a jackpot of beautiful architecture to see and stories to hear. We recommend getting a guide for this one, especially since there is so much to see!
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