1 Taj Mahal is a monument located in Agra, India It was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his Persian wife Mumtaz Mahal It took 23 years to complete it (1630 - 1653) and it is a masterpiece of Mughal architecture The complex of the Taj Mahal covers an area of approximately 580 m Ч 300 m All the beauty of Shah Jahan’s love for his wife is seen in the Taj Mahal Isn’t it amazing that the love of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal still speaks and is alive in the white marbled beauty? The true story never ends even when Shah Jahan was buried next to his wife after his death The story continues even at this age The Leaning Tower of Pisa is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa's Cathedral Square Construction of the tower was made in three stages across 177 years The tower began to sink after construction had progressed to the second floor in 1178 In 1987 the tower was declared as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site After a decade of reconstruction and stabilization efforts, the tower was reopened to the public on December 15, 2001 In May 2008, after the removal of another 70 metric tons of ground, engineers announced that the Tower had been stabilized such that it had stopped moving for the first time in its history The Sydney Opera House is a unique building with several white sail-shaped shells as its roof Architects from some 30 countries took part in the international competition for a design of the building in 1956. In January 1957 Danish architect Jorn Utzon was announced the winner Construction began in 1959 Now it is the best-known landmark It is a multipurpose facility with the 2,679-seat Hall There are also three theatres of different sizes and configurations for stage plays, film screenings, and smaller musical performances The building also houses restaurants and a professional recording studio In 2007 this building was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site The Eiffel Tower is the most widely recognized national landmark in the world The Eiffel Tower is a 320-metre tower constructed by engineer Gustave Eiffel for an international exposition in Paris in 1889 The tower was intended for permanent display, and it survives to this day intact There are elevators that can take you to the top Double-decked elevators to the first and second levels are specially designed to ascend along the steep incline of the tower’s legs The net between the second and third platforms is intended to protect painters working on that part of the tower More than two American-style football fields would fit comfortably in the area covered by the tower’s base Saint Basil's Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox Church built on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555–61 on order of Ivan the Terrible St Basil's marks the geometric center of Moscow It was the city's tallest building until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600 The building is shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky Its design has no analogues in Russian architecture: "It is like no other Russian building Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to fifteenth century a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design." The Statue of Liberty is situated on Liberty Island in the harbor of New York It was presented to the American people by the French government on the hundredth anniversary of American Independence The Statue of Liberty was constructed by the French sculptor Frederic Bartholdi It is a bronze female figure about 50 metres high facing the ocean from Liberty Island In the right hand you can see a torch of liberty It can be seen at night for many kilometers The statue stands on a pedestal of about 50 metres high The statue is hollow and a staircase runs inside the figure to the top From there you can enjoy the beautiful panorama of New York and its harbor The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, built across the historical northern borders of China to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against various warlike peoples or Answer the questions to all the texts: forces Several walls were built in the 7th century BC; they later joined together and made bigger, stronger, and unified now are collectively referred to as the Great Wall Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang Little of that wall remains Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, enhanced; the majority of the existing wall was reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty Where is Taj Mahal situated? Whom is it devoted to? What is special with the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Is it still falling now? When did the design of the Sydney Opera House begin? Who designed it? What is located there? How long is the Eiffel Tower? When was it built? 10 Who built it? 11 When was St Basil’s Cathedral built? 12 Is it a unique building? 13 Who presented the Statue of Liberty to America? 14 How long is this statue? 15 Who constructed it? 16 What is the Great Wall of China? 17 What was its function? All the texts are adapted from http://en.wikipedia.com