World Landmarks

Travelers around the world often wish to visit well-known landmarks as a way to document their time in a certain country or even as a sort of bragging rights to show off to friends and family when returning home. For example, anyone traveling to Egypt is likely to want photos in the shadow of the Great Pyramids or the Sphinx, rather than a busy modern picture of Cairo.

Likewise, visitors to London will want to see such world-renowned landmarks as Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. Visitors to Britain are also likely to want to visit the Tower of London and observe the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

In many ways, these visual landmarks help to define a country. In some cases, they are historic landmarks, like Stonehenge in the United Kingdom, or natural landmarks like Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon in North America. In other cases, they are achievements from the country’s history, like the Coliseum of ancient Rome or the Parthenon in Greece.

The unifying factor of world landmarks is that they signify something about the region and draw people to the site. In the United States, the most famous of landmarks is the Statue of Liberty. Though the Statue was a gift from France, the American people and by association the world have come to identify the statue as a sort of representation of the country. Perhaps even more than the Declaration of Independence, it announces tot he world that the United States believes in the pursuit of liberty.

In France, the single best-known landmark is the Eiffel Tower. The tower was built in the late 1880s to signify France’s achievement in engineering and art. Though no longer the tallest building in the world, it stands as a testament to the way the French people think of themselves: progressive, intelligent and surrounded by art.

The Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx testify to the ancient civilizations of Egypt and its ability to stand the test of time. The Parthenon serves as a reminder of both the Greek gods and the birth of democracy.

In China, the Great Wall stands as a reminder that the world’s largest country has long been the victim of outside aggression and has struggled to defend its people. Even the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace in London speaks to the nature of the country, stoic and driven by duty.

World landmarks help define, in the broadest terms, what we believe about the nations that surround us and help us give clarity to history.