Some of you may remember Lore Sjoberg's Book of Ratings.
Who am i kidding, none of you remember the Book of Ratings. But it's hilarious. In lieu of a normal post, i thought i'd run something similar, only not purposefully for the sake of humour.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
The Statue of Liberty
The Oracle informs me that the proper title for the Statue of Liberty is Liberty Enlightening the World, which is a much more unique name. I also appreciate how the symbol of American freedom was a gift from the French (which is fitting, really, considering the American Revolutionary War). It's a shame that the symbolism of it is so inaccessible, though. The seven-pointed crown is simple enough (the seven continents/seas), but the rest is lost to that monstrous large podium (she's apparently stepping forward, trampling shackles with her left foot). And the tour guides don't seem prone to explain that either. Maybe i just had a poor tour guide. Even so, there's something about gigantic port-city statues that just makes me feel proud to be an American. Or Dodecanese (also a World Heritage Site). It's hard to say. B-
Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres
Our Lady of Notre Dame in Chartres gains bonus points for having its own
groupie distinct from the religion for which the cathedral was built in the first place. Like a lot of Gothic cathedrals, the stained glass and haut-reliefs depict parables from the Bible, which is super boring if you don't know what the story is, and incredibly cool if you do. Luckily, Chartres has a groupie, er...historian to tell you what each one is about. This particular Notre Dame has a rich history (as any building taking 400 years to build ought to); normally i'd link you for more information here, since i just hinted at it, but the internet is failing to produce any legitimate information on this one. The best part about Notre Dame de Chartres is that it introduced and popularized the flying buttress. I have a fond spot in my heart for flying buttresses. Not only do most people love to say the phrase, not having any idea what they are, but if you tried to use them today your architecture prof from back in school would probably hunt you down and rip up your license. A-
Galápagos Islands
I apparently almost fell out of the boat on the way to the Galápagos Islands as an infant. Maybe it was some other island offshore South America, i can't remember -- all i have to go on are stories my parents told me. I've got nothing against the islands themselves, but because it's not an architectural site (and this is an architecture blog, remember?) and due to my near brush with becoming one of the many endemic species there, i have trouble giving this one high marks. D+
EDIT: Turns out i actually almost died on the way to Isla de los Lobos, not the Galápagos. Incidentally, there's also an Isla de los Lobos in the Beagle Channel near the Tierra del Fuego. The channel is named after the voyage of the Beagle, Darwin's ship -- the same voyage which took him to the Galápagos and about which the book of the same name was written. That's such a good Connection that i ought to send it to James Burke.
The Great Wall (of China)
The Great Wall of China, for all its awesome (in the true meaning of the word) size, is really sort of a disappointing story. Against all logical prediction, it actually worked a couple times, which i guess makes the millions of Chinese who died to build it worth the cost? Ok, probably not. Plus, you can't even see it from the moon, and not even well from low-earth orbit. But it's hard to be harsh on four thousand miles of wall. "Well, we can't cross here. Want to go around?" "Nah, i have to be back home sometime in the next five years or the missus will have my hide." The Great Wall took even LONGER to build than the above Notre Dame, and versions of it were used for over two thousand years. Big startup cost, but that's good, sustainable architecture right there (sort of). That Great Wall sure isn't contributing to rising gas prices, anyway. B
Chichen Itza
I don't know very much about
Chichen Itza aside from what i learned from Mayaquest, which taught me that it's much more difficult to bike on a computer than it is in real life. That's not entirely true, i actually do some research on these posts, i just don't have a whole lot to say about it right now. I do remember, however, that Chichen Itza was the home of the Great Ball Court. I hope this is how people hundreds of years from now will remember America's current great cities: Los Angeles, home to the American Gladiators arena! Plus, the game played on the Great Ball Court involves mythology of gods using each others' heads as balls. That's hardcore.
There's actually a lot of really neat stuff about Chichen Itza, but because it's in ruins its score drops a bit to an A-
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