Famous Architectures Made of Natural Stone
The Earth is greatly blessed with historical and famous architectures carefully made by the working hands and creative ideas of human mind. Some of the most enduring and well-honored works are the architecture in Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Great Sphinx of Egypt, and the Great Wall of China.
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is alternatively known as “City Temple”. Angkor comes from the word nagara meaning capital and Wat which comes from the word Khmermeaning temple. Angkor Wat was built in the first half of 12th century. It represents Mount Meru a temple mountain called the home of gods. It is a prime example of classical style of Khmer architecture. The skilled and confident architects uses natural stone mainly as the main building material. The visible areas of this architecture and the monument was mainly made of blocks of sandstones while the hidden and outer wall parts are made of laterite.
Great Sphinx of Egypt
Great Sphinx of Egypt
The Great Sphinx of Egypt is a statue of a lion with human head and is the largest monolith statue in the world. It is the oldest monumental sculpture made by ancient Egyptians. It is believed that it was built by the pharaoh Khafre. The Sphinx is built of soft sandstone. Today, it has a crumbling structure because of humidity, wind and smog. In the 1980's the restoration of the Great Sphinx of Egypt was started and blocks of limestone where added.
Great Wall of China
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a long series of stones and earthen fortifications in northern China built to protect the borders of Chinese Empire from Xiangnu attacks in 5th century BC. Natural stone from the moutain was used over mountain ranges while rammed earth was used for construction in the plains. The main materials used before are Eart or Taipa, wood and stones however, during the Ming Dynasty bricks were heavily used as were materials such as tiles, limes and stone.
