The largest structure in the world by mass, but the second in height May 6th, 2013
We are with you very much. However, this was the first time I heard about this building. And it’s practically a record holder! See how times change and new objects appear right before your eyes!
Abraj Al Bayt Towers also known as "Makkah Clock Royal Tower" is a huge residential complex which is located in Mecca, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The building is unique in that it holds several world records in marine construction. These include: the tallest hotel in the world, the tallest clock tower in the world and the largest clock, the largest building in the world by area, the second tallest building in the world after Burj Dubai. The construction complex was built a few meters from the largest Islamic mosque - Masjid al Haram.
It is the largest (but not the tallest) structure in the world by mass, it is also the tallest structure in Saudi Arabia and the second tallest in the world after the Burj Khalifa
That's how it all began!
Once completed, it will be the tallest free-standing tower, the tallest building in Saudi Arabia, and the world's largest and tallest hotel, with a planned height of 601 meters. The area of the structure will be 1,500,000 m2. Same as Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport, in the United Arab Emirates which is also under construction. The Abraj Al Bayt Towers will surpass the Emirat Park Towers in Dubai, which until now was considered the tallest hotel in the world. A complex of 6 towers, the height of the central one (somewhat reminiscent of Big Ben in London) is 525 meters.
The building is located across the road south of the entrance to the Masjid al Haram mosque, which houses the Kaaba. The tallest tower in the complex will serve as a hotel to help provide accommodation for the more than five million pilgrims who visit Mecca each year to participate in the Hajj.
Abraj al-Bayt will have a four-story shopping center and a garage that can accommodate more than a thousand cars. The residential towers will house residents and two helipads and a conference center will accommodate business guests. In total, up to 100,000 people can be accommodated inside the tower. The project will use clock faces for each side of the hotel tower. The highest residential floor will be located at 450 meters, just below the clock. Dimensions of the dials are 43 × 43 m (141 × 141 m). The roof of the clock is located at an altitude of 530 meters above the ground. A 71-meter spire will be added to the top of the clock, giving it a total height of 601 meters, making it the second tallest building in the world when fully completed, surpassing Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
The tower will house an Islamic museum and a lunar observation center.
The complex is being built by the Bin Laden Group, the largest construction company in Saudi Arabia. The clock tower is designed by the German company Premiere Composite Technologies, Clock, from the Swiss engineering company Straintec. The total cost of the project is $800 million. The Bin Laden Group was founded by Mohammed bin Laden.
Tower name:
1. Zamzam is a well in Mecca, located on the territory of the Al-Haram mosque. Archangel Gabriel pointed out its location to Hagar, Ishmael's mother.
2. Hagar - a slave, Sarah's servant during the latter's childlessness, who became Abraham's concubine and bore him a son, Ishmael.
3.Qibla - direction towards the Kaaba. In Muslim religious practice, believers must face this direction during prayer.
4.Safa - Safa and Marwa are two hills in the courtyard of the al-Haram mosque mentioned in the Koran. During the Hajj, pilgrims climb Safa Hill, face the Kaaba and turn to Allah in prayer.
5. Makam - An analogue of the Christian Ladder, a spiritual state on the path of self-improvement
More than five million pilgrims visit Mecca every year. The Royal Tower houses a hotel that can accommodate about 100 thousand people. In addition, the towers contain residential apartments, a shopping center, a garage for 800 cars and even 2 helipads.
Construction of Abraj al-Bayt was completed in 2012.
In 5-star Abraj al-Bait 858 rooms, served by 76 elevators, also designed to provide easy access to the Holy Mosque Al Haram for prayers.
Thanks to its proximity to Holy Kaaba, the holiest site in Islam, Abraj al-Bait will become a “beacon for pilgrims”, guests will also be able to visit a museum of Islamic icons and art objects intended to develop the cultural heritage of the region.
To the complex Abraj al-Bait includes three luxury hotels with luxury apartments, a four-story shopping center, two helipads and a conference center.
The hotel has nine restaurants, where you can taste both Indian and Lebanese cuisine, and taste grilled steak.
Vashne is home to a lunar observatory and a museum of Islam. She is in a huge complex Abraj al-Bait, which is part of King Abdulaziz's development project aimed at modernizing the surrounding area Mecca and Medina.
The Meccan clock is located on the Royal Clock Tower of the Abraj Al-Bait high-rise building complex, which is located almost opposite the main shrines of Islam, the Al-Haram Mosque and the Kaaba house. All of Abraj al-Bayt's buildings are five-star hotels, where wealthy Muslim pilgrims stay on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.
It is worth talking about the Abraj al-Bayt high-rise building complex in a little more detail. This complex was built by Saudi Arabia's largest construction firm, Saudi Binladin Group, in 2012. The complex, which cost approximately $15 billion to build, is itself the largest hotel in the world, capable of accommodating 100,000 guests. In addition, the complex is the most massive structure in the world and the tallest structure in Saudi Arabia. The height of its Clock Royal Tower is 601 meters and in height this building is second only to one building in the world - the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai.
The total height of the Royal Clock Tower also includes the height of the 70-meter spire, which is topped with an Islamic crescent. By the way, this spire is used to track the Moon during the Islamic holiday of Ramadan. But, in addition to all the above, this tower contains another technological miracle - the world's largest clock, developed by the Swiss company Straintec.
Each of the four dials of this clock, located at an altitude of about 400 meters, has a diameter of 43 meters and consists of 98 million glass mosaic pieces. The dials, the 17-meter-long hour hands and 22-meter-long minute hands, are illuminated by two million green and white LEDs. In addition, another 21 thousand LEDs form something like information boards, on which calls for each of the five daily prayers are displayed. Due to the high altitude of these clocks, the light from their dials and additional displays is visible in good weather at a distance of about 30 kilometers.
The tallest buildings in the world are the result of engineering advances in the field of construction. Thanks to the development of technology, skyscrapers that amaze with their height are appearing all over the world.
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Graph of the world's tallest structures (timsdad/wikipedia.org)
For many years, humanity has been pulled upward into the sky. Even the Bible has a story about the construction of the Tower of Babel. Not only New York was destined to become a city of skyscrapers. In many Asian cities, skyscrapers of the most interesting shapes have risen one after another, adding to the list of tallest buildings. The list is presented below.
10th place. Kingkey 100 – 442 meters, China
Kingkey 100 is located in Shenzhen. In the central part of the financial district in Guangdong province. It ranks tenth on the list of tallest buildings. Its height is approximately 442 meters. It ranks fourth in height in the entire Celestial Empire.
As you can guess from the name, the skyscraper has 100 floors. This building is multifunctional. The first 67 of its floors are office buildings. Above are shopping malls and a hotel. The top four floors are occupied by elite restaurants and a garden called “Heavenly”.
Kingkey 100 (11×16 Design Studio / flickr.com)
9th place. Willis Tower - 443 meters, USA
Willis Tower is one of the landmarks of Chicago. This is a city where, like New York, they once began to build skyscrapers. And here a skyscraper was erected, which is in ninth place on the list.
Willis Tower Observation Deck (Dustin Gaffke / flickr.com)
The building was built in 1973, and for 25 years it was the tallest building in the world. How many floors did it have? There are 110 floors, and the offices occupy quite a considerable area - 418 thousand square meters.
It stands as the second tallest skyscraper in the United States. From this height you can see the entire state of Illinois. Neighboring states can be seen from the observation deck. An equipped place with a magnificent view is called Skydeck. In general, the tower is very popular among visitors, so it is visited by about 25 thousand people a day.
Willis Tower (Dustin Gaffke / flickr.com)
8th place. Zifeng Tower – 450 meters, China
Located in Nanjing in the financial center of Nanjing Greenland. This is one of the high-rise buildings of the new millennium - it was built in 2008. Included in the list of the tallest buildings in the world.
The tower owes its extraordinary appearance to the architect Adrian Smith. The tower appears to be surrounded by two interconnected elements, symbolizing two dancing dragons.
It ranks third in height in China. Many windows glisten in the sun and somewhat resemble the scales of giant reptiles. The building contains many offices, an intercontinental hotel, shops and an observatory. There is a roof garden with a swimming pool.
Since the top of the building is equipped with lighting, the skyscraper looks like a beacon at night and can be used as a landmark in a dark city.
From different angles this building looks different every time; it owes this feature to its unique design.
7th place. Petronas Twin Towers - 452 meters, Malaysia
These sparkling towers are located in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. They look like two giant ears of corn connected by a bridge.
Petronas Towers (Davidlohr Bueso / flickr.com)
They are considered a true masterpiece of modern architecture. And they are included in our list of buildings. On the plan of the entire complex you can see that the buildings have the shape of an eight-pointed star. One of the symbols of the Muslim world.
Two identical skyscrapers are connected by a pedestrian span. Each tower has 88 floors. The construction of this structure took 6 years and 800 million dollars. The area of all its premises could accommodate 48 football fields.
Like other similar buildings, the offices of various companies are located here. At the very bottom there is a huge shopping center occupying six floors. It has many luxury shops.
In the area around the towers there is a vast park with a swimming pool and a fountain, where you can see a unique spectacle - singing fountains. For some time, these towers were lucky enough to be the tallest skyscrapers on the planet.
Petronas Twin Towers - 452 meters, Malaysia (Simon Clancy / flickr.com)
6th place. International Commerce Center (ICC, China) – 484 meters, China
A building with 118 floors. The third tallest building in China is located in the Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.
It towers above 4 thousand other high-rise buildings in Hong Kong. Year of construction: 2010.
It is located in the west of Hong Kong in the Kowloon area at Unity Square. It was originally conceived as a building with even greater height. But due to the ban on the construction of buildings higher than the surrounding mountains, its number of floors was reduced.
At the very bottom there is a shopping center. An observation deck is open to tourists, which is located on the 100th floor.
Above are high-end five-star restaurants and a hotel, including a presidential suite on the 117th floor. One day of stay there costs 100 thousand Hong Kong dollars. You can get to the top floors or go down using 30 working elevators.
The World Financial Center building is located in one of the major cities of China - Shanghai. This is the tallest building in China.
It owes its fantastic appearance to the American architect David Mallott. The skyscraper is popular and has received the nickname “opener” among the local population.
Why it got such a name can be guessed from its appearance. A popular souvenir among tourists who come here is a drink opener in the shape of this famous skyscraper.
On the hundredth floor you can see the city from an elevation of 472 m. The hotel, which is located on the upper floors, was for some time the tallest hotel in the world.
The shape of the opening at the top of the building was originally supposed to be round, but the authorities decided that this symbolized the land of the rising sun, so the window became trapezoidal in shape.
4th place. Taipei 101 – 509 meters, Taiwan
Located in the capital of Taiwan - Taipei. It has 101 floors. More than one and a half billion dollars were spent on design and construction work.
Construction was quite expensive. It was necessary to build a skyscraper that had to withstand severe earthquakes and typhoons. Sufficient attention was also paid to the appearance. It is built in a post-modern style and has various elements of Asian culture and European innovations.
Taipei 101 – 509 meters, Taiwan (中岑范姜 / flickr.com)
3rd place. 1 World Trade Center - 541 meters, USA
It is located in the New York area, Manhattan. This is the tallest skyscraper in the USA. Together with the antenna, the height of the structure is 541 meters, and without the antenna - 417 meters. By making simple calculations, you can find out how many meters the spire adds to the building. Its length is 124 meters.
The building was built exactly on the spot where the Twin Towers, which were destroyed in the disaster, were located until 2001. The new skyscraper is named Freedom Tower. This building is the first of a complex of skyscrapers that was intended to serve as a reminder of the September 11 tragedy.
The memorial was dedicated in 2011 by the current and previous presidents of the United States. Exactly where the foundations of the two towers were, two large pools were made. Construction work began in 2006, and completion was planned for 2013. At the time of construction, the Freedom Tower was the tallest skyscraper in the United States.
Freedom Tower, New York (Phil Dolby / flickr.com)
2nd place. Abraj Al Bayt – 601 meters, Kuwait
This is a tall tower with a huge clock, not unlike Big Ben in London. Time can also be viewed from four sides. The diameter of the dials is 43 meters. Their height is 400 meters. This is the largest and tallest clock in the world.
The spire, 45 meters long, connects the clock on the tower and the golden crescent - a religious symbol. The building is located in Mecca. This is the tallest building in Kuwait. Located on the other side of the Al-Haram Mosque, where the great Islamic shrine is located.
The building houses a hotel called the Royal Clock Tower. Pilgrims visiting Mecca stop here. Construction work on the construction of this tower ended in 2012.
1 place. Burj Khalifa – 828 meters, United Arab Emirates
Many people are interested in which building is the tallest and how many floors does it have? This is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. This is the tallest building in the world.
Burj Khalifa – 828 meters, United Arab Emirates (Mohammed J / flickr.com)
It is far superior in height to all skyscrapers and buildings on the planet. The tallest skyscraper looks like a giant mirror stalagmite.
Another name is Burj Dubai. The building was erected at the beginning of 2010. It has 163 floors. The floors of this building are almost entirely residential.
There is a hotel, various offices and a shopping center. An observation deck is equipped for visitors. There is also an underground parking that can accommodate 3 thousand cars.
In the previous article we discussed the tallest skyscrapers in Russia. Unfortunately, now none of the high-rise buildings erected in the country is among the ten tallest buildings in the world. Therefore, until the completion of the construction of the Lakhta Center (hello to the commentators of the previous article), we will talk about skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China, the USA, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Willis Tower
The oldest of the dozen currently existing tallest skyscrapers in the world was built in 1974 in Chicago. Its height is 442 meters without the spire, with the spire - 527 meters. In the Russian-language Wikipedia, the Willis Tower ranks 11th, but this is somewhat incorrect: the Lakhta Center, which has already been ranked 8th in the ranking, will be completed in 2018.Just think: in forty years, only nine skyscrapers in the world have surpassed the 108-story Willis Tower in Chicago, and in the United States this result was beaten only by the Freedom Tower, opened in 2014.
The design of the skyscraper was carried out by the architectural bureau Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which later erected both the Freedom Tower and the tallest building at the moment - the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The building was originally called the Sears Tower, and received the name Willis in 2009. The foundation of Willis Tower rests on concrete piles driven into solid rock. The frame consists of nine square "tubes" forming one large square at the base. Each such “pipe” consists of 20 vertical beams and many horizontal ones. All nine “pipes” are welded up to the 50th floor, then seven pipes go up to 66, by the 90th floor five remain, and the remaining two “pipes” rise another 20 floors. Exactly what it looks like is clear from a photograph taken in 1971.
A worker stands on the spire of a tower.
The Willis Tower in this photo is on the right, with two spiers.
Zifeng Tower
In Nanjing, China, the Porcelain Pagoda, a 78-meter-tall Buddhist temple, stood until the mid-19th century. Travelers described it as one of the wonders of the world. It was replaced by the Zifeng skyscraper.Construction of the 450-meter high-rise Zifeng building was completed in 2009. It is the business center of the city. It houses offices, shops, shopping centers, restaurants and an observatory. In total - 89 floors.
Work on the construction of the tower lasted only four years. During the process, the project was changed: the tower could have a height of 300 meters. In China, where population density is extremely high, efficient use of land is essential. The triangular construction site was used to the maximum: the skyscraper has a triangular base.
The architects' idea was to interweave motifs of Chinese dragons, the Yangtze River and green gardens. The river is the vertical and horizontal seams that separate the glass surfaces. These surfaces themselves, according to architectural thought, are a reference to dancing dragons. Vegetation and pools were placed inside the building.
View of the city from a spire on a skyscraper.
Petronas Towers
In the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, skyscrapers called Petronas Towers were erected in 1998. The height of the two 88-story skyscrapers is 451 meters, including the spire.The skyscraper was built in the “Islamic” style; each building is an eight-pointed star with semicircular protrusions for stability. The construction site was changed after geological surveys. Initially, one skyscraper was supposed to stand on limestone, the other on rock, so one of the buildings could sag. The site was moved 60 meters. The foundation of the towers is the deepest concrete foundation at the moment: the piles are driven 100 meters into soft soil.
Construction was complicated by an important condition: only materials produced within the country could be used. Strong elastic concrete, reinforced with quartz and comparable in strength to steel, was developed especially for the building. The mass of the skyscraper was twice that of similar steel buildings.
The bridge between the twin towers is secured with ball bearings. Rigid fastening is impossible, as the towers sway.
The elevators in the building are two-story models designed by Otis. One cabin stops only on odd-numbered floors, the second - on even-numbered floors. This saved space inside skyscrapers.
International Commerce Center
The 118 floors of the Hong Kong International Commerce Center house offices, a hotel and shopping centers. The height of the building is 484 meters. Initially, they planned to build a skyscraper 574 meters high, but the project was changed due to a ban on the construction of buildings higher than Mount Victoria.Construction was completed in 2010, but there was no official opening: the building was already in full use by tenants. The 102nd to 118th floors are the highest above ground level hotel operated by the Ritz-Carlton. On the last, 118th floor, there is the world's highest swimming pool.
The building can withstand earthquakes up to magnitude seven and has fire-protected floors. After the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, the design of the building was modified so that it could withstand a direct hit from an airplane.
Thanks to its silhouette, the skyscraper received the name “opener”. The trapezoidal opening at the top was supposed to be spherical, but the Chinese government forced the design to be changed so that the building did not resemble the rising sun on the Japanese flag. Such changes made it possible to reduce the cost and simplify the design. This is how the upper part of the building was planned:
Here's what happened as a result:
Taipei 101
The capital of Taiwan, Taipei, boasts a skyscraper more than half a kilometer high. Together with the spire, the height of Taipei 101 is 509.2 meters, and the number of floors is 101.For some time, Taipei 101 was also distinguished by the fastest elevators in the world: they rise at a speed of more than 60 kilometers per hour, or 16.83 meters per second. People rise from the fifth to the eighty-ninth floor in 39 seconds. Now the new record belongs to the Shanghai Tower.
On the 87th and 88th floors there is a 660-ton steel pendulum ball. This architectural solution was made not only to decorate the interior. The pendulum allows the building to compensate for gusts of wind. The durable but not rigid steel frame can withstand the strongest earthquakes. These solutions, together with a foundation of piles one and a half meters in diameter driven 80 meters into the ground, made the building one of the safest in the world. On March 31, 2002, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake destroyed two cranes on the building, killing five people. There was no damage to the tower itself. But there is a theory that it was the skyscraper that activated the seismic activity.
Freedom Tower
World Trade Center 1 in Manhattan, New York, has surpassed its pursuer, Taipei 101, in terms of spire by 32 meters, although if we count the distance from the ground to the roof, the American Freedom Tower, on the contrary, is inferior to the Taiwanese tower by 37 meters. The height of the World Trade Center is 1 - 541.3 meters on the spire and 417 on the roof.The building stands on the site occupied by the twin towers of the World Trade Center, destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. When designing WTC1, past experience was taken into account, and the lower 57 meters were constructed using concrete instead of the standard steel structure.
The building officially opened on November 3, 2014. It is occupied by offices, retail spaces, restaurants and the City Television Alliance.
Royal Clock Tower
In Mecca in Saudi Arabia, in 2012, a complex of high-rise buildings, the Tower of the House, was built opposite the entrance to the al-Haram mosque, where the main shrine of Islam, the Kaaba, is located. The tallest building in the complex is the Royal Clock Tower Hotel, 601 meters high. It is designed to accommodate up to one hundred thousand pilgrims out of the five million people who visit Mecca annually. The Royal Clock Tower is the third tallest building in the world.On the tower at a height of 400 meters there are four dials with a diameter of 43 meters. They are visible from any part of the city. This is the highest altitude clock in the world at the moment.
The length of the spire at the top of the hotel is 45 meters. The spire contains 160 loudspeakers for the call to prayer. The 107-ton crescent at the very top of the building has several rooms, one of which is a prayer room.
The tower contains 21 thousand flashing lights and 2.2 million LEDs.
Shanghai Tower
The second tallest skyscraper is located in China. This is the Shanghai Tower, a 632-meter-tall building adjacent to another skyscraper on the list - the Shanghai World Financial Center. Offices, shopping and entertainment centers, and a hotel were located on 130 floors.The elevators in the building were developed by Mitsubishi Electric. Their speed is 18 meters per second, or 69 kilometers per hour. These are currently the fastest elevators in the world. There are three such elevators in the building, and four more two-story elevators reach a speed of 10 meters per second.
You shouldn't expect a beautiful view from the windows of a skyscraper. The building has double walls and has a second shell designed to maintain temperature.
The tower has a twisted design, which adds stability to combat wind.
From this angle, a spiral gutter is visible to collect rainwater used for heating and air conditioning.
Burj Khalifa
Opened in 2010 in Dubai, UAE, the Burj Khalifa tower has surpassed all existing skyscrapers and is still the leader in height.The tower was designed by the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, which created the Willis Tower and 1 World Trade Center, which we previously discussed. The construction of the Dubai Tower was carried out by Samsung, which also participated in the construction of the Petronas Towers. There are 57 elevators in the building, they must be used with transfers - only one service elevator can go up to the top floor.
The tower houses the Armani Hotel, designed by Giorgio Armani himself, apartments, offices, shopping centers, fitness centers and observation decks with Jacuzzis. Indian billionaire B.R. Shetty completely purchased two floors, including the hundredth, at a cost of more than 12 million US dollars each.
As with the Petronas Towers, the world's tallest skyscraper developed its own special type of concrete. It can withstand temperatures up to 48 degrees Celsius. During construction, concrete was laid at night, adding ice to the solution. The builders did not have the opportunity to secure the foundation in the rocky soil, and they used two hundred piles 45 meters long and 1.5 meters in diameter.
If the Shanghai Tower has a gutter to collect rainwater, then in the case of the Burj Khalifa Tower such an approach is not needed: there is little rainfall in the desert. Instead, the building has a condensate collection system that can collect up to 40 million liters of water per year for watering plants.
During the filming of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Tom Cruise decided to climb the tower to write Katie Holmes' name there and get a great shot.
Planned buildings
At the moment, there are only two building projects that can rank first in the ranking of the tallest skyscrapers in the world.At 828 meters high, the Burj Khalifa seems less impressive compared to the Dubai Creek Harbor Tower project. Its roof height will be 928 meters - that is, it will already beat the current record by 100 meters. And the height of the spire will exceed a kilometer - it will reach 1014 meters. But this is not certain - the parameters of the building are kept secret. Like the Eiffel Tower, the Dubai Creek Harbor Tower will be open for World Expo 2020 if all goes according to plan. The foundation was laid on October 10, 2016.
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From skyscrapers reaching into the sky to high-tech airports, people have managed to create some truly impressive things. Throughout history and even today, people continue to demonstrate their power and wealth by promoting their societies and cultures by building amazing structures such as the Pyramid of Giza, the Parthenon of Athens, and the Eiffel Tower. These are three of the most famous buildings in the world. Unfortunately, these aren't the biggest things people have built (which is why you won't see them on this list). However, you will learn about the most impressive and impressively large man-made structures. So, here are the 25 largest man-made structures in the world.
The height of the tallest wine bottle is 4.17 meters and the diameter is 1.21 meters. This bottle held 3094 liters of wine, which was poured into it by Andr? Vogel (from Switzerland). The bottle was measured in Lyssach, Switzerland on October 20, 2014.
24. Motorcycle
The Regio Design XXL Chopper is officially the largest functioning motorcycle in the world! It was first introduced at the Motorbike Expo in 2012, where it wowed the audience. This huge motorcycle, designed by Fabio Reggiani, is 10 meters long and 5 meters high. Based on this, we can confidently say that he won over all other “big and scary” motorcycles.
23. Biscuit with sherry
According to Guinness World Records, on September 26, 1990, students at Clarendon College prepared a sherry sponge cake weighing 3.13 tons. Their creation remains to this day the largest sherry sponge cake, as well as one of the largest desserts.
22. Train
The longest and heaviest freight train, made the trip on February 20, 1986, from Ekibastuz to the Ural Mountains, Soviet Union. The train consisted of 439 cars and several diesel locomotives, the total weight of which was 43,400 tons. The total length of the train was 6.5 kilometers.
21. Telescope
The Arecibo Observatory is a radio telescope that is located in the municipality of Arecibo, Puerto Rico and has an impressive feature. The observatory's radio telescope, with a diameter of 305 meters, is the largest single telescope in the world. It is used in three major research areas: radio astronomy, atmospheric science and radar astronomy.
20. Swimming pool
The largest swimming pool in the world holds approximately 249,837 cubic meters of water and can accommodate thousands of people swimming at the same time. The Crystal Lagoon at the San Alfonso del Mar resort in Chile is even big enough for a sailboat to sail in. It even has its own artificial beach.
19. Subway
The Seoul Subway, serving the Seoul Subway, is the longest subway system in the world. The total length of the route stretches over 940 kilometers. As of 2013. The first metro line opened in 1974, and the system currently consists of 17 lines.
18. Statue
The Spring Temple Buddha is the largest in the world. Its total height is 153 meters, including a 20 meter lotus throne and a 25 meter high building. Construction of the Spring Temple Buddha was planned shortly after the Bamiyan Buddhas were blown up by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Construction of the statue was completely completed in 2008. She represents Vairocana Buddha.
17. Sports arena
Rungrado 1st of May Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea. Its construction was completed on May 1, 1989. It is considered the largest stadium in the world and can accommodate 150,000 people on an area of 207,000 square meters.
16. Satellite
TerreStar-1, weighing 6,910 kilograms, became the world's largest commercial satellite in 2009. It went into orbit from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana on July 1, 2009.
15. Revolver
The Remington Model 1859 replica made by Mr. Ryszard Tobys is officially the largest revolver in the world. Its record length was “only” 1.26 meters.
14. Book
The largest book measures 5 by 8.06 meters and weighs approximately one and a half tons. This book has 429 pages. It was introduced on February 27, 2012 by Mshahed International Group, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is called "This is Muhammad" and contains stories highlighting his life's achievements as well as his positive impact on Islam on an international and humanitarian level.
13. Pencil
The length of the longest and largest pencil is 323.51 meters. It was created by Ed Douglas Miller (from the UK). It was measured in Worcester, Worcestershire, UK, on September 17, 2013.
12. Parliament
The Parliament building in Bucharest, Romania, was designed by the architect Anca Petrescu and was almost completed during the Ceau?escu regime. It was to become the building of the political and administrative branches of government. Today it remains the largest civil building with an administrative function, as well as the most expensive and heaviest administrative building in the world.
11. Skyscraper
Burj Khalifa, known as the "Khalifa Tower" is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the tallest man-made structure and skyscraper in the world. Its height is 829.8 meters.
10. Wall
Arguably the most famous of all man-made structures in the world, the Great Wall of China is the largest wall in the world. Its length is 21.196 kilometers.
9. Crossword
The world's largest crossword puzzle was built on the side of a residential building in Ukraine. Its height exceeds 30 meters. It occupies the entire outer part of the wall of a residential building in the city of Lviv.
8. Church
St. Peter's Basilica is a late Renaissance church located in Vatican City. Its construction took 120 years (1506–1626). At the moment it is considered the largest church in the world.
7. Castle
The Guinness Book of World Records lists Prague Castle, located in the Czech Republic, as the most extensive ancient castle in the world. It covers an area of almost 70,000 square meters and is 570 meters long and 130 meters wide.
6. Aquarium
The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is the largest aquarium in the world. It is home to more than 100,000 sea creatures. This aquarium opened in November 2005. Its construction was funded by a $250 million donation from Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus. The Georgia Aquarium is the only facility not located in Asia that houses whale sharks. The sharks are kept in a giant container designed to hold 24 million liters of water, which is part of the Ocean Voyager exhibit.
5. Airplane
The Antonov An-225 Mriya is a heavy-duty transport jet aircraft that was designed by the Antonov Experimental Design Bureau in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. It is powered by six turbojet engines and is the longest and heaviest aircraft in the world. Its maximum lifting capacity is 640 tons. It also has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operation today. In its entire history, only one Antonov An-225 Mriya was built, which is still operational.
4. Passenger ship
At the moment, the largest passenger ship is the Oasis of the Seas, which belongs to Royal Caribbean. He made his maiden voyage on a cruise in December 2009. It is 360 meters long and can accommodate 5,400 passengers.
3. Airport
King Fahd International Airport, located in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, is the largest in the world. Every year, 5,267,000 passengers and 82,256 tons of cargo pass through this airport on 50,936 flights. The airport opened its doors in 1999. The length of its runway is 4000 meters and the width is 60 meters. Its total area is 1256.14 square kilometers.
2. Bomb
The largest bomb in history that was detonated is the Tsar Bomba. Its yield was 50 megatons or 500,000 kilotons, which is equivalent to 50 million tons of dynamite. It was detonated only to show other countries how advanced the Soviet Union was. October 30, 1961 went down in history as the most powerful man-made explosion in human history.
1. Item
The largest man-made objects in the world are submarine communication cables. They stretched from San Francisco to Japan and from San Francisco to New Zealand. The total length of cables exceeds 8,000 kilometers. The diameter of these submarine cables is typically 6.6 centimeters. The weight of such a cable is 10 kilograms per meter. The total weight of one cable exceeds 80,000 tons.
The well-known catchphrase “Size doesn’t matter” applies to many things, but not to buildings. Since ancient times, man has been trying to reach the sky, inventing various devices and inventions. Today, the upper floors of the tallest buildings in the world (skyscrapers) “float in the clouds.” We invite you to take a tour of the 10 tallest skyscrapers in the world, which amaze with their grandeur:
10. Kingkey 100, Shenzhen, China
Photo 10. Kingkey 100 442 meters (1,449 feet) tall, 100 floors.Kingkey 100 is a super-tall building in Shenzhen province in China. The skyscraper received this name for the number of floors - exactly 100 (68 floors are office premises, 22 floors are the St. Regis Hotel, a shopping center, and on the top 4 floors there are restaurants and a “sky garden”). The height of the building is 442 meters, the skyscraper was built in 2011 and ranks 10th in the world (1st place in Shenzhen and 4th place in China).
9. Willis Tower, Chicago, Illinois
Photo 9. Willis Tower is the tallest building in the USA. Willis Tower is the tallest building in the United States; until 2009 it was called the Sears Tower. The skyscraper was built in 1973 and for 25 years it was the largest building in the world. Willis Tower is approximately 443.3 meters high (110 floors and 104 elevators). The tower is visited by approximately 1 million people a year and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Chicago.
8. Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, Nanjing, China
Photo 8. The Zifeng high-rise building, also known as the Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, is the 3rd tallest skyscraper in China. Nanjing Greenland Financial Center is the business center of Nanjing in China. Construction of the skyscraper was completed in 2009. The building ranks 3rd in China among super-tall buildings and 8th in the world. The height of the building is 450 meters, 89 floors. The financial center houses office space, shopping centers, restaurants and hotels. On the 72nd floor there is an observation deck with panoramic views of the city.
7. Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Photo 7. The Petronas Twin Towers have the largest concrete foundation in the world. Petronas Towers are located in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. The structure is also called the Petronas Twin Towers. The project was completed in 1998 by two different construction companies to create competition. The construction cost the customer, the Petronas oil company, $800 million. The height of the Petronas Tower is 451.9 meters (88 floors). The building, covering an area of 213,750 m² (equivalent to 48 football fields), houses offices, exhibition halls, and a gallery. On the 86th floor there are observation platforms for tourists; the towers are connected by a covered passage in the form of a bridge, which ensures fire safety.
6. International Commerce Center, Hong Kong, China
Photo 6. The tallest building in Hong Kong - International Commerce Center The International Commerce Center is located in Hong Kong, China. The skyscraper was built in 2010 and is the tallest building in Hong Kong. The height of the building is 484 meters (118 floors). On the upper floors is the five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel, which is the tallest hotel in the world. The commercial center also houses office space, shopping centers, banks and restaurants. On the 100th floor there is an observation deck for tourists and travelers.
5. Shanghai World Financial Center, China
Photo 5. Skyscraper in Shanghai - The Shanghai World Financial Center was recognized as the best skyscraper in the world in 2008. Shanghai World Financial Center is located in Shanghai, China. Construction of the skyscraper was completed in 2008. The height of the building is 492 meters (101 floors). The building houses conference rooms, shops, restaurants, offices and a hotel. There are observation platforms on the upper floors.
4. Taipei 101, Taiwan
Photo 4. Taipei 101 is the tallest building built in the 21st century. Taipei 101 is located in the capital of China - Taipei. The building was built in 2004, height – 509.2 meters (101 floors). There are offices on the upper floors, and shopping centers on the lower floors. Observation platforms are located on the 89th, 91st and 101st floors.
3. 1 World Trade Center, New York, USA
Photo 3. 1 World Trade Center is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. One World Trade Center or Freedom Tower is located in New York City in lower Manhattan. This is the central building of the new World Trade Center, located on the site of the previous complex destroyed on September 11, 2001. Construction of the Freedom Tower was completed on May 10, 2013. The height of the skyscraper is 541 meters (104 floors + 5 underground). The building houses offices, shops, restaurants, and observation decks.
2. Abraj al-Bayt, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Photo 2. Abraj al-Beit - the largest structure in the world by mass Abraj Al-Bait Towers is a complex of high-rise buildings located in Mecca. This is the tallest building in Saudi Arabia with the largest clock in the world. Construction of the tallest tower, the Clock Royal Tower, was completed in 2012 and reaches a height of 601 meters (120 floors). At the top of the tower there is a clock with a diameter of 43 meters, four dials of which are installed in 4 cardinal directions. The giant clock is visible from anywhere in the city.
1. Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE
Photo 1. Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world is located in Dubai. Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The project was created as a city within a city: its own lawns, boulevards, parks and was commissioned in 2010. The total cost of the construction was approximately $1.5 billion. The height of the building is 828 meters, 57 elevators are installed. Inside the complex there are offices and shopping centers, apartments, and the hotel was designed by Giorgio Armani. At the top of the building there is an observation deck and an observatory.