1Roman Colosseum's Secret
The Roman Colosseum had a retractable cloth awning, weighing about 24 tons, held up by a large network of ropes and 240 huge pillars, which covered 30% of the entire Colosseum, providing shade for all of the spectators. In the late 1990s, a man studying the underground chambers of the Colosseum found patterns of holes, notches, and grooves in the walls. By connecting the dots in the negative space, he discovered that a system of elevators had been used to transport wild animals and scenery to the main floor.
2. It took at least 20,000 people 22 years to build the Taj Mahal. The artisans who worked on the Taj are reputed to have had their hands cut off after the building was completed to prevent them from building a comparable structure.
3. Stonehenge is only the most famous of more than 1,300 stone rings across the British Isles. Around 4400 years ago, the migration of the Beaker people into ancient Britain led to a near-complete replacement of its earlier inhabitants, who had raised megaliths like Stonehenge. Researchers have found that the placement of the stones seems to correspond to important astronomical events, such as the solstices and equinoxes, but the purpose of these alignments remains unclear.
4. In Brazil, the Christ the Redeemer statue has a hidden room located within it. Originally intended to be a chapel, the room was never completed and remains inaccessible to the public. It has a big stone hearth in it.
5. The Tower of London holds a group of resident ravens, and due to the legend that "if the Tower of London's ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it." To ensure the ravens' continued presence, the Tower has kept at least six resident ravens since the 17th century and maintains a reserve bird just in case one leaves. The Tower also holds a secret wooden statue of King Henry VIII with a mechanism in the floor that makes his beloved codpiece swing forth. Additionally, the Tower has a torture cell called "Little Ease," which measures a mere 1.2 square meters and prevented prisoners from settling in any bearable position: they were unable to stand, sit, or lie down.
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6Secrets of Pyramids
The Great Pyramid of Giza and the speed of light share an interesting numerical coincidence: the digits in the speed of light are exactly the same as the latitude of the pyramid. The Great Pyramid is located at a latitude of 29.979175°, and the speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s. The difference in latitude is 7.08E-05, or about 25 feet. With a top-down view, the central chamber is indeed around 27 feet south, and the 25-foot mark is somewhere between the antechamber and the King's Chamber.
7. The Arc de Triomphe contains a secret room beneath its vault that was originally intended to be a chapel but was never completed. Over the years, it has been used for a variety of different purposes.
8. The Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain, features stunning Islamic architecture and was built by Muslim rulers in the 13th and 14th centuries. The palace's Islamic mosaics display a near-perfect understanding of mathematical logic and 16 of the 17 types of symmetry identified by modern mathematicians, making them not just beautiful but mathematically rigorous as well. These patterns explore the fundamental characteristics of symmetry in a surprisingly complete way, and it's interesting to note that mathematicians didn't come up with their analysis of symmetry principles until centuries after the tiles of the Alhambra had been set in place.
9. The world-famous Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany, was used as a depot for the Nazis' stolen art during World War 2, with orders to blow it up that were never carried out by the SS officer in charge. Its fairytale look later inspired Walt Disney to create Cinderella's castle in the 1950 film, and the Neuschwanstein Castle became the basis for the Disney logo shown before every Disney film and the Cinderella Castle in Disneyworld, Florida.
10. The Forbidden City in China, built in 1420, was so well-designed that it withstood over 200 earthquakes and can withstand one with a magnitude of 10.1 on the Richter scale. During the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards attempted to invade and destroy parts of the Forbidden City, but it was avoided when the premier Zhou Enlai sent an army battalion to guard the city. The Inner Court of the Forbidden City was the emperor’s private realm, where no other men were allowed to stay at night. Male servants who stayed overnight had both their penis and scrotum removed, and a piece of bamboo was inserted in the urethra for urination.
11Sagrada Familia's Secret
The Sagrada Familia is a church in Barcelona that has been under construction for over 130 years and is still not expected to be complete by 2026 at the earliest estimate. For 137 years, it was being constructed illegally and only got its building permit in 2019 when authorities found out it didn't have one in 2016. As part of his quest to create lifelike sculptures on Barcelona's Sagrada Familia, its architect, Gaudí made plaster casts of anesthetized turkeys and chickens, and even of stillborn babies.
12. The Palace of Versailles was originally a royal hunting lodge. In order to supply water to the parks of the Palace of Versailles, Louis XIV ordered the construction of the machine Marly to pump water from the Seine, located 10 km from the castle with a drop of 150 meters. This machine, considered one of the most complex of its time, worked for 133 years. The Moberly-Jourdain incident is an eerie incident that supposedly took place in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles in 1901. Two women claimed to have traveled back in time to the 18th century and witnessed the court of Marie Antoinette. Their story has fascinated and perplexed people ever since, with some believing it to be a genuine paranormal experience and others dismissing it as a hoax or hallucination.
13. The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper, stands on sand without any bedrock. Its base is supported by a massive concrete slab, which acts like a snowshoe and prevents it from sinking. 194 shafts of concrete were dug into ancient seashell dust to provide friction, and it is the only thing holding up the building. Despite its towering height, the Burj Khalifa is not connected to the municipal sewage system, and its waste water is transported out of town by trucks, which sometimes have to wait in line for up to 24 hours.
14. The Hagia Sophia, a prominent landmark in Istanbul, Turkey, was originally a Christian church before it was converted into a mosque. The city was violently conquered by the Ottomans, who murdered and raped citizens for three days with approval from their sultan. All those who held liturgies in the Hagia Sophia were killed. The mosque also sits atop an ancient series of underground tunnels, 800 feet beneath its foundation. A documentary crew, granted rare permission to explore these tunnels, discovered sealed passages, a graveyard with children's bones, and the burial chamber of the first priest of Hagia Sophia.
15. The Great Sphinx of Giza, one of the most recognizable landmarks in Egypt, was carved out of a single mass of limestone found in a horseshoe-shaped quarry. Some archaeologists argue that the Sphinx is far older than previously believed due to evidence of water erosion, head recarving, and megalithic sites. When confronted with these findings, the minister of Egyptology dismissed them by saying, "I don't believe in radar." The Sphinx was first restored in 1400 BC, by which time it was already several thousand years old.
16Mount Rushmore's Secret
Mount Rushmore, located in South Dakota, is a national monument that honors four American presidents. Behind the monument is a room that was intended to house important documents and information about the carving of the presidents' faces. However, construction of the room was halted when the government ordered the sculptor to focus on the faces instead. The room now contains 16 porcelain and enamel tablets describing the project and a brief history of the United States. The tablets are kept in a teakwood box and sealed inside a titanium vault, located behind Lincoln's hairline.
17. Angkor Wat, located in Cambodia, is the largest religious structure in the world. Built in the early 12th century, it was originally a Hindu temple before being converted to a Buddhist temple. The temple complex is massive, spanning over 80 times the size of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City and at least 3.5 times the size of the entire Vatican City. Unlike the Egyptian pyramids, which were built with stone quarried from only 0.5 km away, Angkor Wat was constructed using stone quarried from over 35 km away, making it one of the most impressive engineering feats in history.
18. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, one of the most important Catholic churches in the world, was funded by selling indulgences—letters excusing you from sin. Rich people even bought these in advance for sins they planned on committing. During the demolition of Old St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican in the 17th century, over 100 papal tombs were destroyed.
19. When the Hoover Dam was being drafted, engineers calculated that it would take 125 years for the concrete to cool if done in a single pour. Instead, they poured it in sectioned blocks, some as big as 50 square feet and 5 feet high. This way, the physical dam itself will survive up to 10,000 years and be one of the last remaining visible and recognizable monuments of humans on the planet. Also, the first death occurred on December 20, 1922, during its construction. Exactly 13 years later, on December 20th, 1935, the last death occurred, and the two men were father and son, respectively.
20. Petra in Jordan had a more efficient and advanced water system than ancient Rome, with a sophisticated water management system that allowed its 40,000 inhabitants to survive in the harsh desert environment. Scientists have discovered a hidden monument in the center of Petra using high-resolution satellite images, drone photos, and ground surveys, and they estimate there are still many undiscovered tombs and ruins buried beneath the ground. Despite extensive archaeological excavations and research, only about 15% of the ancient city has been fully explored and documented.
21Louvre's Secret Entrance
There is a "secret" entrance to the Louvre that allows you to bypass the ridiculous line at the public entrance. The Porte des Lions entrance is the best entrance into the Louvre. From this entrance, you can buy your tickets, enter the museum, and have the shortest route to the Italian Renaissance painting section. This door always has the shortest line. Also, if you wanted to see every piece of art in The Louvre in one visit, it would take you over a month, assuming you were there 24/7 and took no breaks or sleep.
22. "Kremlin" means "fortress inside a city," and there are multiple kremlins in Russia. "The Kremlin," which is popularly known, refers to the Moscow Kremlin, which includes five palaces, four cathedrals, and the defensive walls and towers. Supposedly, the whole of Moscow has a secret underground metro system that parallels the public Moscow metro, which connects the Kremlin to the FSB headquarters as well as other locations of national importance. Additionally, some of the Soviet Union's honored dead were buried inside the Kremlin wall.
23. The Parthenon in Athens has stood largely intact for more than 2000 years, but the ruins we see today are the result of a massive explosion in 1687, not natural forces or the passage of time. During a war between Venice and the Turks, the Venetians hit the building with a mortar round, causing the explosion. The Turks were using the building to store gunpowder, and it is said they didn't expect such a historic monument to be targeted. Tragically, the blast killed 300 people. Originally built as a temple for the goddess Athena, the Parthenon has served as a church and mosque throughout its history.
24. The Tower of Hercules, located in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, is the oldest extant lighthouse in the world and is still in use today. Built between the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., it was modeled after the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
25. Edinburgh Castle in Scotland was built on top of a volcano and is so old that its founding was already shrouded in myth and legend by the time of its first definite mention in literature. The infamous "Red Wedding" scene from "A Storm of Swords" by G.R.R. Martin was inspired by real-life events that occurred at Edinburgh Castle in 15th century Scotland, known as "The Black Dinner". Additionally, the castle has a secret underground tunnel leading to nearby Holyrood Palace, which was rediscovered during a renovation project in the 1990s and is now open to the public for guided tours.
