Past & Present By: Jin

Architect

Tower of BabelAccording to the biblical account, Babel was a city that united humanity, all speaking a single language and migrating from the east; it was the home city of the great king Nimrod, and the first city to be built after the Great Flood. The people decided their city should have a tower so immense that it would have "its top in the heavens."

Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in ClasseThe Basilica of Sant' Apollinaire in Classe is an important monument of Byzantine art in Ravenna, Italy. When the UNESCO inscribed eight Ravenna sites on the World Heritage List, it cited this basilica as "an outstanding example of the early Christian basilica in its purity and simplicity of its design and use of space and in the sumptuous nature of its decoration". Sant'Apollinare in Classe was consecrated on May 8, 549 by Bishop Maximian and dedicated to the first bishop of Ravenna and Classe.

Irish round tower

The towers were probably built between the 9th and 12th centuries.

Irish round towers are early medieval stone towers of a type found mainly in Ireland, with three in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man. Though there is no certain agreement as to their purpose, it is thought they were principally bell towers, places of refuge, or a mixture of these.

-Tuscan, Italybegan on August 9, 1173The tower began to sink after construction progressed to the third floor in 1178. This was due to a mere three-meter foundation, set in weak, unstable subsoil. In 1198, clocks were temporarily installed on the third floor of the unfinished construction.

Newport Tower

Rhode Island

The accepted explanation of its origin is that it was a mill built in the mid 17th century. However, some historians, as well as amateur researchers, have claimed that it is several centuries older, thus being evidence of a pre-Columbian settlement in New England.

RundetårnRundetårn is a 17th century tower located in Copenhagen, Denmark. The tower is part of the Trinitatis complex, which was built to provide the scholars of the time with an astronomical observatory, a student church and a university library.

-capital of the region of Macedonia in northern Greece-1520–1566-The Tower was used by the Ottomans successively as a fort, garrison and a prison. In 1826, at the order of the Sultan Mahmud II, there was a massacre of the prisoners in the Tower.

Better looking towers

Tokyo Tower

North KoreaContractor -Baekdu Mountain Architects & Engineers, Balfour Beatty Construction-1987

The Ryugyong Hotel is a concrete skyscraper that is under construction. It is intended for use as a hotel in Sojang-dong, in the Potong-gang District of Pyongyang, North Korea. The hotel's name comes from one of the historic names for Pyongyang: Ryugyong, or "capital of willows." Its 105 stories rise to a height of 330 m (1,083 ft), and it contains 360,000 m² (3.9 million square feet) of floor space, making it the most prominent feature of the city’s skyline and by far the largest structure in the country. Construction started in 1987 and ceased in 1992 due to a combination of poor-quality construction and financial difficulties.

Tuntex Sky Tower-Kaohsiung, Taiwan 1997Height -1,140ft

Built-Malaysia-1997

Jin Mao Building-Shanghai , 1999

Taipei Tower-Taiwan , 2004

Shimao International Plaza

It was completed in 2005 under the design of Ingenhoven, Overdiek und Partner, East China Architecture and Design Institute. Shimao International Plaza has two spires on its top, which make its total construction height to 333.3 metres. The building is used for offices, while the top 48 floors house the five-star, ultra-luxurious Le Royal Méridien Shangha.

Burj Al Arab