The Eiffel Tower, the religious 12th century Minaret of Jam, the angled bell tower of the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Qutb Minar… towers hold a certain fascination. Built for show, as commemorative or religious structures, as bell towers, clock towers, or guard posts, towers have been an integral part of architectural history.
Chicago’s Home Insurance Building, built in 1884, was considered to be the world’s first skyscraper.
The race for the “tallest” was perhaps set in motion with the construction of the Empire State Building in New York in 1931. As the first building in the world to have more than 100 storeys, it stood as the world’s tallest building for nearly 40 years. It was even featured as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, a list compiled by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Today, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa holds that record. Imagine about 11 Airbus A380s (the world’s largest passenger aircraft) stacked one on top of the other vertically — that’s how tall the Burj Khalifa is!
But it is not all about the height. The One World Trade Centre, besides being the world’s fourth largest building, is also a symbol of resurgence. It stands in the place where the World Trade Centres stood before the 9/11 terrorist attack. Hence, the name “Freedom Tower”.
Here are a few towers from around the world that continue to awe us with their architecture and gravity-defying rise to fame — literally.
