TheTajMahal When the emperor Shah Jahan’s wife died giving birth to their 14th child more than 300 years ago, her heartbroken husband had this beautiful building built as a memorial tomb to her. It took 21 years and more than 22,000 workers to complete the project. Located in Agra in northern India, the Taj Mahal is a world heritage site today and is considered by many as the most beautiful building in the world. It has a dome of white marble and more than 28 different kinds of precious gems and stones pressed into its walls. More than 1,000 elephants were used to bring materials to the site.
Petra The city of Petra – the name means rock in Greek – was built about the year 600 BC, carved into the red rock of mountains in Jordan. Enormous skill was required to carve temples, passageways and other buildings out of the bare rock. It is sometimes called the City of Tombs because of the many tombs built into the rock face. At one time Petra was a busy thriving city, with camel caravans laden with spices, jewels and gold carrying their goods from Damascus to Arabia. Then for hundreds of years it became a quiet, half-forgotten backwater – the lost city of stone – until it was discovered in the last century. Because of its dramatic setting it was chosen as the location for scenes in the film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.