The Tower of Pisa

The Tower of Pisa (La Torre di Pisa) is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. The height of the tower is 55.86 m (183.27 ft) from the ground on the lowest side and 56.70 m (186.02 ft) on the highest side. The width of the walls at the base is 4.09 m (13.42 ft) and at the top 2.48 m (8.14 ft). Its weight is estimated at 14,500 metric tons (16,000 short tons). The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. The tower leans at an angle of 3.97 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is 3.9 metres (12 ft 10 in) from where it would stand if the tower were perfectly vertical.

The Tower of Pisa was a work of art, performed in three stages over a period of about 177 years. Construction of the first floor of the white marble campanile began on August 9, 1173, a period of military success and prosperity. This first floor is surrounded by pillars with classical capitals, leaning against blind arches.

The construction begun in 1173 and it must have been suspended at the completion of the third ring, around ten years later, since a subsidence of the soil of between 30 and 40 cm. had thrown the tower out of the perpendicular, causing an initial overhang of circa 5 cm. More than a century after the laying of the foundation stone, was once again begun (1275) by Giovanni di Simone, who added three more levels, correcting the axis of the Campanile. In 1284 the six stories of loggias were to all effects finished, bringing the height of the building to 48 m., and employing a technical expedient that was meant to diminish, at least optically, the effects of the inclination, accomplished by raising the galleries of the upper floors on that side.

At the time the inclination of the Tower was more than 90 cm. The tormented vicissitudes of the Tower did not, as one might expect, greatly worry those who were involved in the construction and completion. The long intervals between building activity were dictated, most likely, by the need of letting the Campanile 'rest', but above all by letting both the foundations and the ground on which they rested settle down.

In a certain sense it can be said that the subsidence of the soil and the consequent inclination had, on the whole, been foreseen. At the beginning of the 14th century the bells were placed at the sixth level, in the large opening still visible in the marble cylinder beyond the loggia. Between 1350 and 1372 Tommaso di Andrea Pisano (according to Vasari) terminated the installation of the belfry on the summit of the sixth order of loggias, increasing the correction of the axis, and thus diminishing the load on the side that was in inclination, which in the mean while had become fixed at 1.43 m.

Photo by leonceeo

Conceived of not only as a bell tower, but also as a belvedere for the square below - from the earliest times the loggias have served as 'grandstand' for religious events and fairs - it rises 58.36 m above the level of the foundation, just under 56 m over the level of the countryside, and its inclination, measured at the base, is over 4 m. The average subsidence of the base is 2.25 m, while the progressio of the overhang, despite all attempts so far made to bring it to a halt, is about 1.2 mm per year.

Only a few years after the completion of Tower, damage to the elevation structure became manifest, upon which the most damaged elements in stone were substituted. The first documentation of restorations involving substitutions dates from 1398, when marbles were acquired for this purpose. After this, restoration work carried on uninterruptedly, including some very extensive operations: in the XVI century alone the substitution of 50 columns is documented.

Photo by fever hat

The elements originally realised with San Giuliano marble were progressively replaced using white Carrara marble. The most significant data regards the most exposed parts: of a total of 269 column shafts 175 are in white Carrara marble, while out of 207 capitals, 195 have been substituted. Metallic supports (rings, brackets, chains etc.), some applied many centuries ago, are visible in numerous areas of the Tower.

At the beginning of the XX century chains were applied to the vaults of the arcades. Here the substitution of the stone architraves connecting the arcade columns to the drum is also frequent. Recent studies on the interaction between the atmosphere and the Tower have demonstrated that the columns and capitals are subject to the greatest damage as a result of cycles of heating and cooling caused by their dimensional structure and by their direct exposure to the sun.

In the sector underneath the inclination of the Tower, diffused instances of crushed or compressed areas can be noted through attention to cracks and fissures and the detachment of materials along their line of contact with borders. The numerous restorations attempted over time, with the numerous substitutions they involved, does not allow us to trace the evolution of the ruined areas nor to localise the areas with a greater concentration of lesions by way of reference to the stone wall facing.

The mechanical damage caused by such factors is accompanied by the deterioration of the stone, which provokes modifications to the volume of the various architectural elements, causing the detachment of parts sometimes of significant dimensions. Major damage to the surfaces of the Tower can be related to the impact of rainfall, while the area under the inclination is subject to greater particle deposits, which, being screened from the rainfall by the Tower itself, are not washed away.

In 1911 the first measurements of the tower with instruments and methods capable of accurately following the course of the Tower's inclination began. The inclination measured in 1911 was 5ƒ14'46", corresponding to a projection of 4.22m from the seventh cornice to the first. The first surveys were based on the measurement of the angle "q" between the first cornice and the seventh, using a theodolite placed at a precise point. Later (1928), four benchmarks were placed on the base of the Tower, from the levels of which the value of the inclination could be deduced. In 1934 a pendulum was introduced within the hollow cylinder and a highly accurate spirit level was placed in the instrument room at the 1st order.

Finally, in 1992, an electronic monitoring station was installed, with automatically recording inclinometers which allow the real time transmission at the frequency intervals required (even every 4 minutes if necessary) of the values north-south and east-west of the inclination. With the help of instruments it is also possible to distinguish the movement of the base upon which the tower rests through analysis of deformations in the upper structure, in order to identify the effects of single causes, potentially of brief duration, such as winds and seismic activity. The diagram below shows the inclination of the Tower over time, reconstructed according to measurements taken in the XX century. This confirms the great sensitivity of the Tower to any variation in the ground conditions and to works undertaken at the base. Leaving to one side variations caused by specific occurrences, the rotation speed of the Tower has accelerated from 4" per year in the 1930s to 6" per year at the end of the 1980s.

In 1993 a counterweight of about 600 tonnes, made from lead ingots, was placed on the north side of the Towers' base in order to arrest the southward rotation. The diagram shows the rotation towards the north of about 60" and the later stabilisation of the monument, recorded for the first time in over eight centuries of the Tower's history. A contained perturbation was recorded in September 1995: the unforeseen effect of the link between the Tower and the basin formed by cropped steel tubes installed in 1935 to facilitate the waterproofing of the base. The renewed tendency to rotate towards the south was checked and halted by augmenting the counterweight from 600 tonnes to about 870 tonnes.

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The Parthenon

The Parthenon is a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order. Its decorative sculptures are considered one of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of ancient Greece and of Athenian democracy, and one of the world's greatest cultural monuments.

At the approximate position where the Parthenon was built later, the Athenians began the construction of a building that was burned by the Persians while it was still under construction in 480 BCE. It was presumably dedicated to Athena, and after its destruction much of its ruins were utilized in the building of the fortifications at the north end of the Acropolis. Not much is known about this temple, and whether or not it was still under construction when it was destroyed has been disputed. Its massive foundations were made of limestone, and the columns were made of Pentelic marble, a material that was utilized for the first time. The classicalParthenon was constructed between 447-432 BCE to be the focus of the Acropolis building complex. The architects were Iktinos and Kallikrates (Vitruvius also names Karpion as an architect) and it was dedicated to the goddess Athena Pallas or Parthenos (virgin). The temple’s main function was to shelter the monumental statue of Athena that was made by Pheidias out of gold and ivory. The temple and the chryselephantine statue were dedicated in 438, although work on the sculptures of its pediment continued until completion in 432 BCE.

The Parthenon construction cost the Athenian treasury 469 silver talents. While it is almost impossible to create a modern equivalent for this amount of money, it might be useful to look at some facts. One talent was the cost to build one trireme, the most advanced warship of the era.

According to Kagan, Athens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war had 200 triremes in service, while the annual gross income of the city of Athens at the time of Perikles was 1000 talents, with another 6000 in reserve at its treasury.

The Parthenon is a temple of the Doric order with eight columns at the façade, and seventeen columns at the flanks, conforming to the established ratio of 9:4. This ratio governed the vertical and horizontal proportions of the temple as well as many other relationships of the building like the spacing between the columns and their height.

The cella was unusually large to accommodate the oversized statue of Athena, confining the front and back porch to a much smaller than usual size. A line of six Doric columns supported the front and back porch, while a colonnade of 23 smaller Doric columns surrounded the statue in a two-storied arrangement. The placement of columns behind the statue was an unusual development since in previous Doric temples they only appeared on the flanks, but the greater width and length of the Parthenon allowed for a dramatic backdrop of double decked columns instead of a wall.

The back room sheltered Athena’s treasure and four columns of the Ionic order supported its roof. The introduction of elements of the Ionic order in a predominately Doric temple was more dramatic in the development of a continuous freeze on the exterior wall of the cella. While the integration of Doric and Ionic elements on the same temple was not a new development in Greek architecture, it was rare, and bestowed on the Parthenon a delicate balance between austere and delicate visual characteristics.

All temples in Greece were designed to be seen only from the outside. The viewers never entered a temple and could only glimpse the interior statues through the open doors. The Parthenon was conceived in a way that the aesthetic elements allow for a smooth transition between the exterior and the interior that housed the chryselephantine statue of Athena. A visitor to the Acropolis who entered from the Propylaia would be confronted by the majestic proportion of the Parthenon in three quarters view, with full view of the west pediment and the north colonnade. As the viewer moved closer, the details of the sculpted metopes would become decipherable, and when in proximity to the base of the columns, parts of the frieze would become evident in tantalizing colorful glimpses peering from the spaces between the columns.

Moving towards the east and looking up towards the exterior of the cella, a visitor would be mesmerized with the masterful depiction of the Panathenaic procession as it appeared in cinematic fashion on the frieze which was visually interrupted by the Doric columns of the exterior. This was certainly a scene that every Athenian could relate to through personal experience, making thus the transition between earth and the divine a smooth one. A visitor moving east would eventually turn the corner to face the entrance of the Parthenon, and there he would be confronted with the birth of Athena high above on the east pediment, and just beyond it, the arrephores folding the peplos among the Olympian gods and the heroes of the frieze. Then, just below, the “peplos” scene, through the immense open doors, any visitor would be enchanted by the glistening gold and ivory hues of the monumental statue of Athena standing at the back of the dim cella. The statue of Athena Pallas reflected its immense stature on the tranquil surface of the water-pool floor, and was framed by yet more Doric columns, this time smaller, in a double-decked arrangement that made the interior space seem as if it were even larger and taller than the exterior.

It seems certain that the master planners of the Parthenon conceived it as a theatrical event. The temple was constructed with the movements of the viewer in mind, and by the arrangement of the temple, the monumental sculptures of the pediment, and the detailed frieze, the emotions of the visitors were choreographed to prepare them for the ultimate glimpse of the majestic Athena Parthenos at the interior of the naos, and to maximize the effect of an awe inspiring visit.

As a post and lintel temple, the Parthenon presents no engineering breakthrough in building construction. However its stylistic conventions have become the paradigm of Classical architecture, and its style has influenced architecture for many centuries after it was built.

Photo by oboulko

The Parthenon is a large temple, but it is by no means the largest one in Greece. Its aesthetic appeal emanates from the refinement of many established norms of Greek architecture, and from the quality of its sculptural decoration. The Parthenon epitomizes all the ideals of Greek thought during the apogee of the Classical era through artistic means. The idealism of the Greek way of living, the attention to detail, as well as the understanding of a mathematically explained harmony in the natural world, were concepts that in every Athenian’s eyes set them apart from the barbarians. These ideals are represented in the perfect proportions of the building, in its intricate architectural elements, and in the anthropomorphic statues that adorned it.

Some of these details were found in other Greek temples while some were unique to the Parthenon. The temple owes its refined appeal to the subtle details that were built into the architectural elements to accommodate practical needs or to enhance the building’s visual appeal.

The fact that there are no absolute straight lines on the Parthenon bestows a subtle organic character to an obvious geometric structure. The columns of the peristyle taper on a slight arc as they reach the top of the building giving the impression that they are swollen from entasis (tension) - as if they were burdened by the weight of the roof; a subtle feature that allots anthropomorphic metaphors to other wise inanimate objects.

Photo by Jeff Mindel

The peristyle columns are over ten meters tall, and incline slightly towards the center of the building at the top (about 7 cm), while the platform upon which they rest bows on a gentle arc which brings the corners about 12 cm closer to the ground that the middle.

The architects of the Parthenon appear to be excellent scholars of visual illusion, an attribute undoubtedly sharpened by years of architectural refinement and observation of the natural world. They designed the columns that appear at the corners of the temple to be 1/40th (about 6 cm) larger in diameter than all the other columns, while they made the space around them smaller than the rest of the columns by about 25 cm. The reason for this slight adaptation of the corner columns is due to the fact that they are set against the bright sky, which would make them appear a little thinner and a little further apart than the columns set against the darker background of the building wall. The increase in size and decrease of space thus compensates for the illusion that the bright background would normally cause.

These subtle features set the Parthenon apart from all other Greek temples because the overall effect is a departure from the static Doric structures of the past, towards a more dynamic form of architectural expression. Moreover, the intricate refinements of the forms required unprecedented precision that would be challenging to achieve even in our time. But it was not mere grandeur through subtlety that the Athenians desired. It is evident that they sought to out-shine all other temples of the time through the lavish sculptural decoration of the Parthenon, and its imposing dimensions. The doors that lead to the cella were abundantly decorated with relief sculptures of gorgons, lion heads and other bronze relief ornaments.

Photo by *Michelle*(xena2542)

The Athenian citizens were proud of their cultural identity, and conscious of the historical magnitude of their ideas. They believed that they were civilized among barbarians, and that their cultural and political achievements were bound to alter the history of all civilized people. The catalyst for all their accomplishments was the development of a system of governance the likes of which the world had never seen: Democracy.

Democracy, arguably the epitome of the Athenian way of thinking, was at center stage while the Parthenon was built. This was a direct democracy where every citizen had a voice in the common issues through the Assembly that met on the Pnyx hill next to the Acropolis forty times per year to decide on all matters of policy, domestic or foreign.

The fact that common people are depicted as individuals for the first time at the Parthenon frieze was owed to the fact that for the first time in history every citizen of a city was recognized as a significant entity and a considerable moving force in the polis and the observable universe.

Parthenon Facts

* Year Built: 447-432 BCE
* Precise Dimensions:
o Width East: 30.875 m
o Width West: 30.8835 m
o Length North: 69.5151 m
o Lenght South: 69.5115 m
* Width to Ratio: 9:4
o Width to height Ratio (without the Pediments): 9:4
* Number of stones used to built the Parthenon: Approximated at 13400 stones.
* Architects: Iktinos and Kallikrates
* Parthenon Cost: 469 talents
* Coordinates (of Plaka area just below the Acropolis): 37° 58'N, 23° 43'E

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Falkirk Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It is named after the nearby town of Falkirk in central Scotland. The difference in the levels of the two canals at the wheel is 24 metres (79 ft).

Photo by nonmipare

The original concept of a wheel to act as a boat lift actually dates back to 19th Century Europe, but it was first seriously considered by British Waterways as a solution for Falkirk in 1994. Dundee Architects, Nicoll Russell Studios presented a Ferris Wheel type design that was used to secure Millennium Commission Funding for the Project. This outline design was then reappraised to create a functional lift that could raise and lower boats swiftly whilst celebrating the reconnection of the two historic canals with a structure worthy of a new millennium.Ideas and concepts were numerous, and varied from rolling eggs to tilting tanks, giant see-saw to overhead monorails and included some complex counterbalanced structures. The final outcome was The Falkirk Wheel, which successfully combines both function and design, creating a stunning piece of working sculpture.

The unique shape of the structure is claimed to have been inspired by various sources, both manmade and natural, such as a Celtic double headed spear, a vast turning propeller of a Clydebank built ship, the ribcage of a whale or the spine of a fish. The canal network as a ‘backbone’ connecting Scotland, east to west seems appropriate and there a true beauty in the repetitive sweeping shapes of the aqueduct. The arches over the aqueduct also add to the drama of the structure, forming a complete circle with the reflection in the canal to extend the feeling of the tunnel. The fact the canal literally ends in mid air creates a thrilling sense of sailing off the edge in to the spectacular scenery of the horizon.

The various parts of The Falkirk Wheel were actually constructed and assembled, like one giant Meccano set, at Butterley Engineering’s Steelworks in Derbyshire. A team there carefully assembled the 1,200 tonnes of steel, painstakingly fitting the pieces together to an accuracy of just 10 mm to ensure a perfect final fit.In the summer of 2001, the structure was then dismantled and transported on 35 lorry loads to Falkirk, before all being bolted back together again on the ground, and finally lifted by crane in five large sections into position. The total 600 tonne weight of the water and boat filled gondolas imposes immense and constantly changing stresses on the structure as it turns around the central spine. Normal welded joints of steel would be susceptible to fatigue induced by these stresses, so to make the structure more robust, the steel sections were bolted together. Over 15,000 bolts were matched with 45,000 bolt holes, and each bolt was hand tightened.

The wheel, which has an overall diameter of 35 metres (110 ft), consists of two opposing arms which extend 15 metres beyond the central axle, and which take the shape of a Celtic-inspired, double-headed axe. Two sets of these axe-shaped arms are attached about 25 metres (82 ft) apart to a 3.5 metres (11 ft) diameter axle. Two diametrically opposed water-filled caissons, each with a capacity of 80,000 imperial gallons (360,000 l, 96,000 US gal), are fitted between the ends of the arms.

These caissons always weigh the same whether or not they are carrying their combined capacity of 600 tonnes (590 LT, 660 ST) of floating canal barges as, according to Archimedes' principle, floating objects displace their own weight in water, so when the boat enters, the amount of water leaving the caisson weighs exactly the same as the boat. This keeps the wheel balanced and so, despite its enormous mass, it rotates through 180° in five and a half minutes while using very little power. It takes just 22.5 kilowatts (30.2 hp) to power the electric motors, which consume just 1.5 kilowatt-hours (5.4 MJ) of energy in four minutes, roughly the same as boiling eight kettles of water.

Photo by Diamanx

The wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, and is regarded as an engineering landmark for Scotland. The United Kingdom has one other boat lift: the Anderton boat lift in Cheshire. The Falkirk Wheel is an improvement on the Anderton boat lift and makes use of the same original principle: two balanced tanks, one going up and the other going down, however, the rotational mechanism is entirely unique to the Falkirk Wheel. Since 2007 the Falkirk Wheel has featured on the obverse of the new series of £50 notes issued by the Bank of Scotland. The series of notes commemorates Scottish engineering achivements with illustrations of bridges in Scotland such as the Glenfinnan Viaduct and the Forth Rail Bridge.

The Falkirk Wheel lies at the end of a reinforced concrete aqueduct that connects, via the Roughcastle tunnel and a double staircase lock, to the Union Canal. Boats entering the Wheel’s upper gondola are lowered, along with the water that they float in, to the basin below. At the same time, an equal weight rises up, lifted in the other gondola. This works on the Archimedes principle of displacement. That is, the mass of the boat sailing into the gondola will displace an exactly proportional volume of water so that the final combination of ‘boat plus water’ balances the original total mass.

Each gondola runs on small wheels that fit into a single curved rail fixed on the inner edge of the opening on each arm. In theory, this should be sufficient to ensure that they always remain horizontal, but any friction or sudden movement could cause the gondola to stick or tilt. To ensure that this could never happen and that the water and boats always remain perfectly level throughout the whole cycle, a series of linked cogs acts as a back up.


Hidden at each end, behind the arm nearest the aqueduct, are two 8m diameter cogs to which one end of each gondola is attached. A third, exactly equivalent sized cog is in the centre, attached to the main fixed upright. Two smaller cogs are fitted in the spaces between, with each cog having teeth that fit into the adjacent cog and push against each other, turning around the one fixed central one. The two gondolas, being attached to the outer cogs, will therefore turn at precisely the same speed, but in the opposite direction to the Wheel.

Given the precise balancing of the gondolas and this simple but clever system of cogs, a very small amount of energy is actually then required to turn the Wheel. In fact, it is a group of ten hydraulic motors located within the central spine that provide the small amount, just 1.5kw, of electricity to turn it.

The Falkirk Wheel cost £17.5 million, and the restoration project as a whole cost £84.5 million (of which £32 million came from National Lottery funds).

Photo by WestLothian

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Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle, royal palace in the Bavarian Alps of Germany, the most famous of three royal palaces built for Louis II of Bavaria, sometimes referred to as Mad King Ludwig, who grew up nearby at Hohenschwangau Castle.

Construction on the castle began in 1869, but given the exact tastes of King Ludwig II, progress was very slow going. As an example, it took 14 carpenters four and a half years just to complete the woodwork in Ludwig's bedroom. The King was an immense devotee of Richard Wagner, even going as far as naming the castle after a character in one of Wagner's operas--the Swan Knight. In none of the other castles in Germany will you find more instances of Ludwig's fondness for Wagner's work. Tapestries depicting scenes from Wagner's opera can be found inside.

Photo by jeffwilcox

Construction was halted on the castle and King Ludwig II was removed by power due to intrigue within his own cabinet. The King himself was rarely concerned with matters of state and was sometimes thought to suffer from hallucinations. However, what frightened the cabinet were the rumors of their possible removal. Under Bavarian law, a King could be removed from power if he were found unfit to rule. The cabinet produced this report and deposed of the King. However, Ludwig's mysterious death--ruled a suicide at the time--suggests that the cabinet was not content to merely remove him from power. This bit of mystery makes the atmosphere of Neuschwanstein one of the most intriguing of the castles in Germany.

Unfortunately, many of the rooms in the enchanting castle remained bare. Only 14 rooms were finished before Ludwig's death. Yet the beauty of this famous German castle cannot be denied. The sun reflects magnificently off the pearly walls of Neuschwanstein. Inside, the throne room is the picture of opulence. Intricate frescos of angels and other Christian depictions can be found. There is no throne, only a raised dais at the end of the room, as the King was removed from power before a throne could be built.

Photo by trialsanderrors

The suite of rooms within the Palas contains the Throne Room, Ludwig's suite, the Singers' Hall, and the Grotto. Throughout, the design pays homage to the German legends of Lohengrin, the Swan Knight. Hohenschwangau, where Ludwig spent much of his youth, had decorations of these sagas. These themes were taken up in the operas of Richard Wagner. Many rooms bear a border depicting the various operas written by Wagner, including a theater permanently featuring the set of one such play. Many of the interior rooms remain undecorated, with only 14 rooms finished before Ludwig's death. With the palace under construction at the King's death, one of the major features of the palace remained unbuilt. A massive keep was planned for the middle of the upper courtyard but was never built, at the decision of the King's family. The foundation for the keep is visible in the upper courtyard.

Photo by stavrospap2004

The finished rooms include the throne room, which features a glass gem-encrusted chandelier; all Twelve Apostles, painted on the wall that surrounds the pedestal for the throne - the actual throne was never finished; and Jesus, behind the pedestal. The King's master suite includes a four-post bed hand carved of wood, the canopy of which is carved as the cathedral towers from every cathedral in Bavaria, a secret flushing toilet (which flushes with water collected from an aqueduct) and a running sink in the shape of a swan. The palace also includes an oratory, accessible from the dressing room and the master suite, which features an ivory crucifix, a room made to look like a cavern, a full kitchen equipped with hot and cold running water and heated cupboards, servants' quarters, a study, a dining room and the Singers' Hall. The Singers' Hall is a venue for performances by musicians and playwrights. The King built it for Wagner as a place to write and perform plays. The King died before watching a performance in the Singers' Hall, but it has been used since the King's death.

It is now almost forgotten that Ludwig II was a patron of modern inventions and that he pioneered the introduction of electricity into public life in Bavaria. His new palaces were the first buildings to use electricity (i.e. the Venus Grotto at Linderhof) and other modern conveniences. Through his building activities, Ludwig kept many particular crafts alive, the knowledge and expertise of which would have died out otherwise, and he provided work and income to artisans, builders, plasterers, and decorators.

Photo by tossmeanote

Seven weeks after the death of King Ludwig II in 1886, Neuschwanstein was opened to the public. The shy king had built the castle in order to withdraw from public life - now vast numbers of people came to view his private refuge.

Today Neuschwanstein is one of the most popular of all the palaces and castles in Europe. Every year 1.3 million people visit "the castle of the fairy-tale king". In the summer around 6,000 visitors a day stream through rooms that were intended for a single inhabitant.

The setting of Neuschwanstein could not be more idyllic. However, movement in the foundation area has to be continuously monitored, and the sheer rock walls must be repeatedly secured. The harsh climate also has a detrimental effect on the limestone façades, which will have to be renovated section by section over the next few years.

Photo by /kallu

It is surely the most famous castle in the world — and, like its builder, one of the most misunderstood. Neuschwanstein castle is a structure of contrast, irony, and mystery — and beauty.

One of biggest ironies of this castle is that a structure built to be a private refuge, “sacred and out of reach” (“heilig und unnahbar”), should now be host to thousands of tourists each year. Another irony: although it was built largely as a stage for Wagnerian productions (“a worthy temple for the divine friend [Wagner]”), the composer never set foot in Neuschwanstein. Nor was the castle’s throne room was ever completed in time to contain a throne.

To execute his dream project, the king commissioned a stage designer as architect. The castle that Christian Jank designed for Ludwig inspires awe and surprise in visitors to this day. But in part because the Disneyesque image of Neuschwanstein has become such a cliché, it is easy to dismiss it as an ostentatious example of poor taste, an anachronistic piece of foolishness. Nevertheless, ever since it was opened to the public, Neuschwanstein has acted as a powerful magnet. The castle’s unique location combined with Ludwig’s “fantasy in stone” creates a special magic. But like any work of art, the more one knows about Neuschwanstein, the more one can appreciate it.

Photo by thefuton

The engineering architect was Eduard Riedel (after 1874, Georg Dollmann; from 1886 to 1892 Julius Hofmann), and Neuschwanstein is an engineering marvel. The castle’s construction lasted 23 years, until long after Ludwig’s death. Although built in the Germanic late Romanesque style of the 13th century, the castle was equipped with the best technology available in the late 1860s. Quite unlike any real medieval castle, Neuschwanstein has a forced-air central heating system. Its rarely-used kitchen was of the most advanced design. The winter garden features a large sliding glass door.

Out of all of Ludwig’s amazing “fantasies in stone,” Neuschwanstein seems to be the most fantastic.

With some of the structure still not totally complete, Ludwig moved into Neuschwanstein’s finished rooms for the first time in 1884. The king spent eleven nights in his dream castle from 27 May to 8 June.

Contrary to popular legend, Ludwig’s building projects did not bankrupt the Bavarian treasury. Neuschwanstein, like Ludwig’s other castles, was financed entirely from the king’s own funds.

Photo by winninator

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Cathedral of Santa Eulalia

The Cathedral of Santa Eulalia (also called La Seu) is the Gothic cathedral seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain. The cathedral was constructed throughout the 13th to 15th centuries on top of a former Visigothic church. The neo-Gothic façade is from the 19th century.

The cathedral is dedicated to Eulalia of Barcelona, co-patron saint of Barcelona, a young virgin who, according to Catholic tradition, suffered martyrdom during Roman times in Barcelona. One story is that she was exposed naked in the public square and a miraculous snowfall in mid-spring covered her nudity. The enraged Romans put her into a barrel with knives stuck into it and rolled it down a street (according to tradition, the one now called 'Baixada de Santa Eulalia'). The body of Saint Eulalia is entombed in the cathedral's crypt.

Photo by Travis S.

Already in 343 A.D. during the Roman Empire a basilica was built at the site of the current cathedral. In 985 the basilica was destroyed by the Moors, led by Al-Mansur. It was replaced by a Roman cathedral, built between 1046 and 1058. A Roman chapel, the Capella de Santa Llucia, was added between 1257 and 1268. It was later incorporated in the cloister next to the cathedral. 30 Years later, in 1298, construction of the gothic cathedral started under King Jaume II, known as 'the Just'. During the construction of the gothic cathedral, the existing roman building was demolished except for the Santa Llucia chapel.

Due to civil wars and the black death which hit the city several times, the construction only progressed slowly. It took until 1460 before the main building was completed. The gothic facade was finished much later, in 1889 and the last part, the central spire, was completed in 1913. The design of both the facade and the spire were based on the original design from 1408 by the French architect Charles Galters.

Photo by aragost

The church is 93m/305ft long and 40m wide. The octagonal clock towers reach a height of more than 50m. They were built between 1386 and 1393. The spire of the central tower reaches a height of 70m or 230ft.The interior consists of one wide nave with 28 side chapels. The crypt contains the sarcophagus of Santa Eulalia. The cathedral also has a beautifully carved choir. A lift in the northeast of the cathedral brings you to the top of the roof of the cathedral.

Adjacent to the cathedral is a 14th century cloister. There are always 13 geese in its central courtyard. Each goose represents one year in the life of the martyr Santa Eulalia, a young girl tortured to death in the 4th century by the Romans for her religion. The cloister also contains a small museum with liturgist artifacts.

Photo by dhaug@rogers.com

One side chapel is dedicated to "Christ of Lepanto", and contains a cross from a ship that fought at the Battle of Lepanto (1571). The body of the cross is shifted to the right. Catalan legend says that the body swerved to avoid being hit by a cannonball. This is believed to have been a sign from God that the Ottomans would be defeated. The cathedral has a secluded Gothic cloister where thirteen white geese are kept (it is said that Eulalia was 13 when she was murdered).

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Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam, also sometimes known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada. When completed in 1935, it was both the world's largest electric-power generating station and the world's largest concrete structure. It was surpassed in both these respects by the Grand Coulee Dam in 1945. It is currently the world's 35th-largest hydroelectric generating station.

This dam, located 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, is named after Herbert Hoover, who played an instrumental role in its construction, first as the Secretary of Commerce and then later as the President of the United States. Construction began in 1931 and was completed in 1935, more than two years ahead of schedule. The dam and the power plant are operated by the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, Hoover Dam was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985.

To protect the construction site from flooding, two cofferdams were constructed. Construction of the upper cofferdam began in September 1932, even though the river had not yet been diverted. A temporary horseshoe-shaped dike protected the cofferdam on the Nevada side of the river. After the Arizona tunnels were completed, and the river diverted, the work was completed much faster. Once the coffer dams were in place and the construction site dewatered, excavation for the dam foundation began. For the dam to rest on solid rock, it was necessary to remove all the riverbed's accumulated erosion soils and other loose materials until sound bedrock was reached. Work on the foundation excavations was completed in June 1933. During excavations for the foundation, approximately 1,500,000 yd³ (1,150,000 m³) of material was removed. Since the dam would be a gravity-arch type, the side-walls of the canyon would also bear the force of the impounded lake. Therefore the side-walls were excavated too, to reach virgin (un-weathered) rock which had not experienced the weathering of centuries of water seepage, wintertime freeze cracking, and the heating/cooling cycles of the Arizona/Nevada desert.

To divert the river's flow around the construction site, four diversion tunnels were driven through the canyon walls, two on the Nevada side and two on the Arizona side. These tunnels were 56 feet in diameter. Their combined length was nearly 16,000 feet (4877 meters, more than three miles). Tunneling began at the lower portals of the Nevada tunnels in May 1931. Shortly afterwards, work began on two similar tunnels in the Arizona canyon wall. In March 1932, work began on lining the tunnels with concrete. First the base or "invert" was poured.

Gantry cranes, running on rails through the entire length of each tunnel were used to place the concrete. The sidewalls were poured next. Movable sections of steel forms were used for the sidewalls. Finally, using pneumatic guns, the overheads were filled in. The concrete lining is three feet (91.5 centimeters) thick, reducing the finished tunnel diameter to 50 feet (15.25 m).

Following the completion of the dam, the entrances to the two outer diversion tunnels were sealed at the opening and half way through the tunnels with large concrete plugs. The downstream halves of the tunnels following the inner plugs are now the main bodies of the spillway tunnels. The spillways can be seen directly above the outer diversion tunnels. They drop sharply from their entrance point and merge directly into the old diversion tunnels.

The two inner diversion tunnels have two concrete plugs in them. One is roughly half way along their length, and the other is around 75% of the way along their length. The section sandwiched between two concrete plugs is used as part of the tunnel which water travels along, to journey from the outermost intake towers and the generators. The two innermost intake towers have separate tunnels.

The large spillway tunnels have only been used three times in the history of the dam. The first one was during the second half of 1941 for testing. The second one was for about six weeks during the summer of 1983, when record precipitation and snow-melt in the Colorado River basin drained into Lake Mead, and the third one in 1999, again with heavy precipitation that filled Lake Mead.

The first concrete was placed into the dam on June 6, 1933. Since no structure of the magnitude of the Hoover Dam had been constructed, many of the procedures used in construction of the dam were untried. Since concrete heats up and contracts as it cures, uneven cooling and contraction of the concrete posed a serious problem. The Bureau of Reclamation engineers calculated that if the dam were built in a single continuous pour, the concrete would have taken 125 years to cool to ambient temperature. The resulting stresses would have caused the dam to crack and crumble. To solve this problem the dam was built in a series of interlocking trapezoidal columns. Each pour was no more than six inches deep. Because of this depth it is extremely unlikely that construction workers were accidentally buried alive in the concrete, contrary to popular folklore. To further cool the concrete each form contained cooling coils of 1 inch (25.4 mm) thin-walled steel pipe. River water was circulated through these pipes to help dissipate the heat from the curing concrete. After this, chilled water from a refrigeration plant on the lower cofferdam was circulated through the coils to further cool the concrete. After each layer had sufficiently cooled the cooling coils were cut off and pressure grouted by pneumatic grout guns. The concrete is still curing and gaining in strength as time goes on. There is enough concrete in the dam to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York.

Photo by Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton

There were 112 deaths associated with the construction of the dam. There are different accounts as to how many people died while working on the dam and who was the first and last to die. A popular story holds that the first person to die in the construction of Hoover Dam was J. G. Tierney, a surveyor who drowned while looking for an ideal spot for the dam. Coincidentally, his son, Patrick W. Tierney, was the last man to die working on the dam, 13 years to the day later. 96 of the deaths occurred during construction at the site. However, another surveyor died prior while surveying a potential location for the dam and these statistics do not include other incidental and coincidental (heat stroke, heart failure, etc) deaths during construction.

Photo by by Wolfgang Staudt

Statistics
* Construction period: April 20, 1931 – March 1, 1936
* Construction cost: $49 million ($736 million adjusted for inflation from 1936 to 2008)
* Deaths attributed to construction: 112; 96 of them at the construction site
* Dam height: 726.4 ft (221.4 m), second highest dam in the United States. (Only the Oroville Dam is taller)
* Dam length: 1244 ft (379.2 m)
* Dam thickness: 660 ft (200 m) at its base; 45 ft (15 m) thick at its crest.
* Concrete: 4.36 million yd³ (3.33 million m³)
* Maximum electric power produced by the water turbines: 2.08 gigawatts
* Approximate power output: 4 billion KWh per year (i.e. $200 million at $0.05 per kWh)
* Traffic across the dam: 13,000 to 16,000 people each day, according to the Federal

Highway Administration
* Lake Mead (full pool)
* area: 157,900 acres (639 km²), backing up 110 miles (177 km) behind the dam.
* volume: 28,537,000 acre feet (35.200 km³) at an elevation of 1,221.4 feet (372.3 m) .
* With 8 to 10 million visitors each year, including visitors to Hoover Dam but not all traffic across the dam, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area is the fifth busiest National Park Service area.

Photo by chalkie_colour_circles

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Allianz Arena

The Allianz Arena is a football stadium in the north of Munich, Germany. The stadium is located at the northern edge of Munich's borough of Schwabing on the Fröttmaning Heath. The two professional Munich football clubs FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München have played their home games at Allianz Arena since the start of the 2005/06 season. Both clubs had previously played their home games at the Munich Olympic Stadium; FC Bayern München since 1972 and TSV 1860 München since the 1990s.

The winning bid for the Allianz Arena project was made jointly by Alpine Bau Deutschland GmbH and the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron. The chosen path is highly innovative, with a futuristic interpretation of the basic football stadium concept. A cascade of colour can be projected onto the smooth lozenge-shaped exterior, which takes the form of a curved translucent shell, infusing the structure with an almost magical poetry. The three-tier seating arrangement guarantees every single one of the 66,000 spectators a close up view of the action, combining raw emotional interaction with all the comforts of a modern stadium.

Capacity
* Total: 69,901 capacity undercover (including.Executive boxes and business seats)
* Total of 66,000 seats
* Lower Tier: 20,000 seats (with standing : 69,901)
* Middle Tier: 24,000 seats
* Upper Tier: 22,000 seats
* in the North and South Stands: 10,400 standing: a relationship of 1-1.3 Vario-Seats
* 2,200 business seats and about 400 seats for the press
* 106 VIP boxes of various sizes accommodating 1,374 guests
* 165 special seats for the disabled at main entrance/exterior ground level (no change of level)

Inside the Arena
6,000 m² of catering facilities devided into following sections:
* 28 kiosks
* 2 fan-restaurants (one in the north- and one in the south-stand), each with 1,000 seats
Restaurant Arena a la Carte accommodating 400 people
Press club with about 350 seats
* Mixed Zone ( 520 m²)
* offices and conference rooms
* comfortably appointed media areas
* a nursery
* 54 ticket counters
* shopping facilities
* changing rooms ( 4 for players: FC Bayern 2, TSV 1860 2 ; 4 for coaches ; 2 for referees)
* 2 warm-up rooms, each 110m²
* 550 WC-cubicles in the Arena
* 190 monitors in the Arena

Photo by plaggenplei

Pitch
* 190 monitors in the Arena
* Total surface (barrier to barrier): 120 m x 83 m
* Spectator distance from pitch: 7.5 m minimum
* Pitchside barrier height: approx 1.2 m

Seat row gradients:
* Lower tier: approx 24°
* Middle tier: approx 30°
* Upper tier: approx 34°
* 2 x 100 m2
LED Video Walls in 16:9 format, 42.5 m above ground
* 232 floodlights, 45 m high

Arena & Esplanade dimensions
Stadium dimensions: 258 m x 227 m x 50 m (gross figure)
* 7 levels
* Admesurement: 840 m
* Façade and roof: 66,500 m² in total, comprising 2,760 inflated panels
* Roof area: 38,000 m²
* Façade: 28,500 m²
* Illuminated area (three colours available); 25,500 m²
* Area occupied by stadium: 37,600 m²
* Total site area: 171,000 m²
Esplanade dimensions: 543 m x 136 m x 0-12 m
* 4 levels
* Admesurement: 1.358 m
* Covered area: approx 73,900 m²

Stadium and Esplanade structure
* Concrete used in stadium: approx. 120,000 m3
* Steel used in stadium: approx. 22,000 t
* Foundations: 180 t, size of a family house, loading up to 1,500 t
* 350 inclined supporting pillars, 50 to each level
* Supporting pillars (cross-section: 65 cm, length: 6 m) have maximum bearing load of 10,000 kN (~1,000 t)
* 8 stairwells, 15 cascade stairways at intervals of 45 m
* External façade (under inflated panels):
* Area: approx. 12,000 m², glazed area: approx. 5,000 m²
* Internal façade (Business Club):
* Area. approx. 350 m², glazed area approx. 300 m²
* Executive boxes:
* Area: approx. 3,000 m2, glazed area: approx. 2,000 m2
* Tiers:
* 2,446 pre-cast elements
* 3,985 stair elements laid on terraces
* 132, 000 drill holes for the 66,000 seats
* Esplanade (4 car parks each on 4 levels):
* Frame construction (supports and bracing beams)
* Floor area: 270,000 m²
* Concrete: 85.000 m³
* Steel: 14.000 t
* Structural steel: 1.400 t
* Promenade (asphalted main connecting level)
* Area: 28,000 m² floor area with 8,50 m ceilings
* 1,033 pre-cast sections on 128 pillars and 88 load bearing points
* External circumference: approx. 1,200 m

Facade
* 2,874 rhomboidal inflated ETFE foil panels form the 66,500 m² roof and façade
* Biggest membrane shell in the world
* Data on the ETFE foil (Ethylene Tetrafluoro-ethylene):
* Thickness: 0.2 mm
* Weight: 350 g/ m²
* Longitudinal/transverse tensile strength: 52/52 N/mm²
* Longitudinal/transverse tensile stress at 10% elongation: 21/21 N/mm²
* Longitudinal/transverse elongation at breaking point: 600/600 %
* UV permability: 95%
* Visible light permability: 93%
* Colour: transparent (roof area), translucent white (rest of façade)
* 1,380 non-standard panels:
* Total area: 7.6 to 40.7 m²
* Length: approx 3 to 10 m
* maximum width: 1.9 to approx. 4.6 m
* Maximum diagonal length: approx 17 m
* Fans keep the panels inflated at a constant pressure of 0.035 bar (maximum possible pressure 0.08 bar)
* In case of snowfall, 12 pressure-monitoring points ensure the correct pressure adjustments to allow for snow up to 1.6 m.
* Lifespan approx 25 years, non-flammable, exceptionally resistant to heat and cold, self-cleans with rain
* 19 panels at the 51.41 m level can be opened to ensure proper ventilation.
* Each of these special hydraulic panels can carry up to 8 t and has a wind pressure resistance of 22 t
* The panels are non-loadbearing

Facade lighting
* 1,056 (of 2,760) illuminated panels (in white, red or blue)
* Total area lit: 25,500 m²
* 4,250 individual lights
* Each panel has 4 identical lights (installed in pairs between two lens shaped panels)
* 25,344 long-life fluorescent tubes with a lifespan of 8,000 hours
* Total power: approx. 1.47 MW
* Each 3.5 m long lamp unit contains 6 long-life fluorescent tubes (58W) and 3 starters
* Red, blue and transparent lenses in each unit allow colour changes
* An asymmetric parabolic mirror ensures uniform illumination of each panel - max. luminance 3000 cd/m²
* Consumption when fully lit: 506 KWh
* Façade lighting required 100 km cabling
* Electricity for the stadium is supplied by 5 transformers
* Lighting changes its colour extend over two minutes to avoid incidents on the motorway
* Allianz Arena logo mounted on north and south sides:
* 12 blue and white illuminated letters each weighing 250-500 kg
* Composition: steel, tin, aluminium, transparent plastic
* Largest LED display in Europe (100,000 individual LEDs)

Roof Structure
* Total area: 38.000 m²
* Primary roof structure (60%):
* 48 radial main beams, approx 65 m long and weighing up to 106 t
* Total of 5,300 t S355 steel
* Secondary roof structure (cross beams, 40%)
* Forms a rhomboidal ‘steel net’ within which the panels are supported
* In the form of rectangular tubing 180 mm x 180 mm x 5-16 mm
* Total of 3,400 t S355 steel
* 50 m high free floating construction
* Maximum load bearing stress, own weight plus full load of snow at centre: 5,000 kN (~ 500 t)
* Maximum load bearing stress at edge: 3,300 kN (~ 300 t)
* Deflection under load at edge with full snow load and wind: 55 cm
* Roof panels have a transparent inner surface
* Retractable internal roof (blind and theatre usage) opened and closed by 51 electric motors

Pitch
* Dimensions: Playing surface 68 m x 105 m, total surface 72 m x 111 m, surface area of 8,000 m²
* Dimensions per lawn-roll: 2.2 m x 15 m
* Weight per lawn-roll: 1.2 t
* Depth per lawn-roll: 30 mm thick "Power Turf"
* Time required: 20 truckloads delivered every hour, on the hour, nine deliveries per day, total approximately two-and-a-half days
* Playing surface: 0.5 % incline towards centre
* Growth: Firm roots in 14 days, initial roots after two days, immediately playable
* Bedding layer: 30-70 cm gravel forming a 4,500 m² frost-free gravel bedding
* Foundations: 10 cm drainage layer (sand), heating pipes, 13 cm lower turf-bearing layer, 9 cm upper turf-bearing layer
* Drainage (seepage pipes): 14 drains each measuring 111 m, 100 mm diameter, total length two kilometres
* Under-soil heating: Pipes 3.2 cm diameter, total length 27 kilometres, three isolated tubes per distributor, manual and automatic temperature control range 35-50 °C, pressure at 1 bar

Hydraulic Pitch Entrance
* Arched zinc galvanised steel construction
* Operation: toggle lever mechanism – Opening travel: 2,300 mm in 11 seconds
* Width at Pitch: 2.50 m
* Height at Pitch: 2.10 m
* Controlled by ‘dead mans handle’ and warning lights in players tunnel

* Additional: emergency exits (swing door) and buffers

Photo by Cr4m0

Dressing Rooms
* Dressing rooms: 65.5 m²
* Massage room: 40.5 m²
* Medical treatment room: 21 m²
* Equipment room: 4.7 m²
* Baths: 2.08 m x 5.16 m x 1 m
* Warm-up area: approx. 110 m2
* Showers: 22 m²
* Coaches' dressing rooms: 40 m²
* Number of lockers: 22
* Number of showers: 12

The stadium was one of the venues for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, due to sponsorship contracts, the arena was called FIFA World Cup Stadium Munich during the World Cup.

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Cube houses

Kubuswoningen, or cube houses, are a set of innovative houses built in Rotterdam and Helmond in The Netherlands, designed by architect Piet Blom in 1984. The houses in Rotterdam are located on Overblaak Street, and beside the Blaak Subway Station. The original idea of these cubic houses came about in the 1970s. Piet Blom has developed a couple of these cubic houses that were built in Helmond.

Photo by ricardo.martins

The city of Rotterdam asked him to design housing on top of a pedestrian bridge and he decided to use the cubic houses idea. The concept behind these houses is that he tries to create a forest by each cube representing an abstract tree; therefore the whole village becomes a forest. Blom tilted the cube of a conventional house 45 degrees, and rested it upon a hexagon-shaped pylon. There are 38 small cubes and two so called 'super-cubes', all attached to each other.

Photo by wok

The cubes are tilted and sit on hexagon-shaped pole structures. The cubes contain the living areas, which are split into three levels. The triangle-shaped lower level contains the living area. The windows on this level open onto the environment below due to the slope of the tilted cube. The middle level contains the sleeping area and a bathroom, while the top level, also in a triangular shape, is used as either an extra bedroom or a living space. The top level provides a great view since the apex of the room is a three sided pyramid with windows all around.

The houses contain three floors:

* ground floor entrance
* first floor with living room and open kitchen
* second floor with two bedrooms and bathroom
* top floor which is sometimes used as a small garden

Photo by dave7dean

The walls and windows are angled at 54.7 degrees. The total area of the apartment is around 100 square meters, but around a quarter of the space is unusable because of the walls that are under the angled ceilings. The pole below some of the cubes allow for storage space as well as the staircase that leads to the entrance, while others have shops on the promenade level.

Photo by dave7dean

The structure of the pole consists of three concrete pillars that have concrete block filling the space in between. As for the cube, the basic structure is concrete floor with concrete pillars. On top of this structure is something similar to a typical wood frame structure with wood stud framing and rockwool insulation. To protect the wooden frame and the insulation from exposure to the elements, they are covered with cement/wood fiberboards. To give the cube a nice appearance, zinc panels were used and complemented by double-glazed windows.

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Beijing Capital International Airport

Beijing Capital International Airport,is the main international airport that serves the capital city of Beijing, People's Republic of China. The IATA Airport Code is PEK, reflecting Beijing's former Romanization Peking. The airport is located 20km to the north-east of the Beijing city-center. Although many consider it to lie in Shunyi District, it is, in fact, an exclave of Chaoyang District, Beijing.

Photo by foxoniu

The airport is a primary hub of operations for Air China, which flies to around 120 destinations (excluding cargo). It is also a hub for Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines. The airport expansion is largely funded by a 500-million-euro (USD 625 million) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The loan is the largest ever granted by the EIB in Asia; the agreement was signed during the eighth China-EU Summit held in September 2005.

Beijing Airport was opened on March 2, 1958. The airport then consisted of one small terminal building, which still stands to this day, apparently for the use of VIPs and charter flights. On January 1, 1980, a newer, larger building - green in colour - opened, with docks for 10 to 12 aircraft. The terminal was larger than the one in the 1950s, but by the mid-1990s, it was too small. The terminal was then closed for renovation after the opening of Terminal 2.

In late 1999, to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, the airport was expanded again. This new terminal opened on November 1, and was named Terminal 2. September 20, 2004, saw the opening of a new Terminal 1 for a few airlines, including China Southern Airlines' domestic and international flights from Beijing. Other airlines' domestic and international flights still operate in Terminal 2.

Photo by foxoniu

Another expansion, Terminal 3 (T3) was completed in February 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympics. This colossal expansion includes a third runway and another terminal for Beijing airport, and a rail link to the city-center. At its opening, It was the largest man made structure in the world in terms of area covered, and a major landmark in Beijing representing the growing and developing Chinese city. The third runway of BCIA opened on October 29, 2007, to relieve congestion on the other two runways.

Fresh from hosting the 2008 Olympic Games and completion of its new terminal building, The Beijing Capital International has overtaken Tokyo Haneda to be the busiest airport in Asia based on scheduled seat capacity.

Photo by 传说

Terminal 1, with 60,000 square meters of space, was opened on January 1, 1980, and replaced the small existing terminal which was in operation since the 1950s. The Terminal was closed for renovation from 1999 to September 20, 2004, during which all airlines operated from Terminal 2. Featuring 16 gates, it was the operational base for China Southern Airlines' domestic routes and a few other airlines such as Xiamen Airlines and Chongqing Airlines, and was originally planned to handle domestic traffic, excluding those to Hong Kong and Macau. With the opening of Terminal 3, the terminal was closed for light refurbishment, and its airlines were moved to Terminal 2 on May 20, 2008.

Photo by HeyMing

Terminal 2 opened on November 1, 1999, a month after the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. This terminal was used to replace Terminal 1 while the later was undergoing renovation, cramping all airlines into this terminal despite it being far bigger than Terminal 1 and can handle twenty airplanes at docks connecting directly to the terminal building. Prior to the opening of Terminal 3, the majority of the flights from PEK operated from this terminal. This terminal now houses China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Skyteam, and other domestic and international flights after Air China, Shanghai Airlines, Star Alliance members, Oneworld members moved operations to the new Terminal 3.

Photo by HeyMing

Construction of Terminal 3 started on March 28, 2004, and was opened in two stages. Trial operations commenced on February 29, 2008, when seven airlines, namely British Airways, El Al Israel Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Shandong Airlines and Sichuan Airlines moved into the terminal. 20 other airlines moved into the terminal when it became fully operational on March 26, 2008. Currently, it mainly houses Air China, Oneworld, Star Alliance, and other domestic and international flights.


It was designed by a consortium of NACO (Netherlands Airport Consultants B.V), UK Architect Foster and Partners and ARUP. The budget of the expansion is US$3.5 billion. Far grander in size and scale than the existing terminals, it was the largest airport terminal-building complex built in a single phase with 986,000 square meters in total floor area at its opening. It features a main passenger terminal (Terminal 3C), two satellite concourses (Terminal 3D and Terminal 3E) and five floors above ground and two underground, with the letters "A and B" omitted to avoid confusions with the existing Terminals 1 and 2. Terminal 3C is dedicated for domestic flights, Terminal 3E for international flights, and Terminal 3D, called the "Olympics Hall", was used for charter flights during the Beijing Olympics, before its use by international flights.

Photo by mattviews

Terminal 3 is larger than London Heathrow Airport's 5 terminals combined with another 17% to spare. Terminal 3 of the BCIA is currently the second largest airport passenger terminal building
of the world. Its title as the world's largest was surrendered to Dubai International Airport's Terminal 3 (over 1,500,000 m²) on October 14, 2008.

A 300,000-square-meter transportation centre is located at the front of T3. 7,000 car-parking spaces will be available if the two-level underground parking lot is fully employed. The transportation centre will have three lanes for different types of vehicles, airport buses, taxis and private vehicles, which will enable a smooth flow of passengers. People bound for T3 will exit their vehicles here and enter T3 via an aisle within five minutes. The transportation centre will also have a light-rail station on a line that begins at the Dongzhimen stop on the Beijing Subway in Central Beijing. Travel time from Dongzhimen to T3 will be about 18 minutes.

Photo by mattviews

A 98.3-meter monitoring tower stands at the southern end of T3, the highest building at the airport. The roof of T3 is red, the Chinese color for good luck. The terminal’s ceilings use white strips for decoration and to indicate directions. Under the white strips, the basic color of the ceiling is orange with light to dark tones indicating where a passenger is inside the building. It is light orange in the center and deepens as it extends to the sides in T3E and is the other way round in T3C. The roof of T3 has dozens of windows to let in daylight. Light angles can be adjusted to ensure adequate interior lighting. However, interior lighting in itself is not sufficient for comfortable reading. Many traditional Chinese elements will be employed in the terminal’s interior decoration, including a “Menhai,” a big copper vat used to store water for fighting fires in the Forbidden City, and the carvings imitating the famous Nine-Dragon Wall (Jiulongbi).

An indoor garden is constructed in the T3E waiting area, in the style of imperial gardens such as the Summer Palace. In T3C, a tunnel landscape of an underground garden has been finished with plants on each side so that passengers can appreciate them inside the mini-train.

The T3 food-service area is called a “global kitchen,” where 72 stores will provide food ranging from formal dishes to fast food, from Chinese to western, from bakery goods to ice cream. Airport officials have promised that people who buy products at the airport will see the same prices as in Central Beijing.



In addition to food and beverage businesses, there will be a 12,600-square-meter domestic retail area, a 10,600-square-meter duty-free-store area and a nearly 7,000-square-meter convenience-service area, which includes banks, business centres, Internet services and more. At 45,200 square meters, the commercial area will be twice the size of Beijing’s Lufthansa Shopping Centres.

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