Great Wall of China
The longest wall in the world is the Chinese Wall, called the Great Wall. Its length is 8,851.8 kilometers along its curved perimeter, as reported by the Chinese publishing house Xinhua, according to the latest research by the State Administration for Cultural Heritage Protection and the State Administration of Geodesy and Cartography of China. The Chinese Wall may also lay claim to the longest capital construction in human history.
It began during the reign of the Qin dynasty (246 - 207 BC) by Emperor Qin Shi Huang. After his death, the Wall continued to be built by emperors of other dynasties, who had enough money to gather hundreds of thousands of workers and send them to the “great construction site.” The wall was only completed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD).
Purpose of the wall
It is not known exactly for what purpose the Wall was built, but several reasons have been given. One of the first purposes that the Wall was supposed to serve was protection from the nomadic and semi-nomadic steppe peoples of the Xiongnu or Xiongnu, who in Europe several centuries later became known as the Huns. Another purpose that the Wall could serve was as a barrier to the Chinese themselves, who often fled to the nomads. And the third reason is often cited as the greatness of the emperor and his power.
Despite such a long origin, the Great Wall of China cannot be considered the oldest wall. More recently, archaeologists were able to find not only the most ancient artificial wall, built by human hands, but also, obviously, the most ancient human structure in its history. This wall was discovered in Thessaly in Central Greece and dates back to 23 thousand years ago.
Myths associated with the wall
There are many myths and legends associated with the Great Wall of China, which not only relate to the ancient times of its construction, but even to the modern scientific world. From ancient times, a legend has reached our time about a dream that Emperor Qin Shi Huang had, after which the construction of this Western Wall actually began. According to legend, the emperor dreamed of two hares fighting for the sun, but it went to the third black hare. The emperor's astrologers determined that the two kingdoms hostile to the emperor would be defeated by outsiders. It was after this dream that Qin Shi Huang decided to build the Wall.
According to another legend, one of the magicians predicted to Emperor Qin Shi Huang that the construction of the Wall would be completed when “Wang” (10,000 people) were buried in it. The Emperor found a man named "Wang" and buried him in the Wall. It is no coincidence that the Great Wall of China has such names as the Western Wall or the Longest Cemetery in Human History. The very name of the Chinese Wall in Chinese translation sounds like “Long Wall of 10,000 li”.
There is also a persistent scientific myth that claims that the Great Wall of China can be seen from space. However, this is not true. Astronauts can see the runways of major airports and the Egyptian pyramids, but the Wall is not visible from space. This fact was confirmed even by Chinese astronauts Fei Junlun and Nie Naishen.
The Great Wall today
Today, the Great Wall is well preserved only in the Badaling (near Beijing) and Mutianyu areas, which are actually ready to be shown to tourists. However, it was built in different periods time using various building materials, and if during the Ming era bricks and stone blocks were used in construction, then in the Qin and Han eras construction was carried out using the earth itself and fastening material made from rice porridge, to which slaked lime was added.
It is not at all surprising that destructive processes are taking place in many places on the Great Wall of China. As is the case, for example, at a site in the Mingying region in the Shanxi region of northwestern China, where a 60 km stretch has almost disappeared from the face of the earth under the bombardment of steppe sandstorms caused by an intensive form of management agriculture in the region since the 50s of the last century. And this site was built precisely during the era of the Han Dynasty, which ruled from 206 BC to 200 AD.
World of travel
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18.12.16 12:17
In mid-December, the historical drama " Great Wall", in which the heroes of Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal come to the aid of Asian warriors. We decided to dedicate a photo selection of famous walls in the world to this event. The Tsoi memorial wall in St. Petersburg, near Kamchatka, where the rock musician once worked, is very dear to some, while others are packing for Jerusalem to ask God for help at the most famous wall in the world.
Walls were invented by our ancestors as a means of protection from enemies or animals. Today famous walls have become something big - let's admire it!
They were protection - they became architectural monuments: the famous walls of the planet
The walls of Babylon are in Iraq, their gates are in the capital of Germany
City-state in Ancient Mesopotamia- bright and noisy Babylon - flourished in the 570s BC. It was then that he was surrounded by walls - high and strong - by order of King Nebuchadnezzar. Now this is the territory of modern Iraq (about 85 km south of Baghdad).
The walls of Babylon are gradually being restored, and their main treasure - the gate of the goddess Ishtar - is kept in the Pergamon Museum (Berlin). The blue glazed tiles look like new, and the bas-reliefs of dragons and bulls still sparkle on them.
Another popular historical attraction, the famous walls of Troy, are located in northwestern Turkey. These are some of the most oldest walls that have survived to this day. They became available for viewing thanks to archaeologists. The walls of the legendary Troy were built in the 13th century BC and remind us of the ten-year siege to which the city was subjected, which was described by Homer.
In the Turkish city of Diyarbakir
But at the opposite end of Turkey (in the southeast) there are other famous walls - made of black basalt in the 9th century. Now they are the highlight of the city of Diyarbakir: they stretch right in the middle of modern buildings for 5.4 km - in the shape of a circle. The walls are complicated brickwork, this complex includes four gates, barracks, warehouses and 82 watchtowers.
“Puma Teeth”: the walls of the Sacsayhuaman fortress in Peru
The city of Cusco in Peru was once the capital of the Inca Empire. Not far from it is the world-famous ancient monument of Machu Picchu (a comfortable excursion train goes there from the city). And in Cusco itself (on its northern outskirts) rise the huge walls of the Sacsayhuaman fortress, made of well-polished stones. The three parallel walls are strong and do not have a single gap - even a thin sheet of paper cannot fit between the boulders. This place is protected by UNESCO. An interesting detail: Cusco was built in the shape of a puma, the citadel was built on the hills and personified the head of a predator, its zigzag walls symbolized teeth.
Great Zimbabwe Walls in modern Zimbabwe
Some of the most famous walls in the world (and the largest man-made structure south of the Sahara Desert) are the walls of Great Zimbabwe, an old city that was once the capital of the kingdom. These defensive lines were erected during the Late Iron Age and are now well preserved. Inside the perimeter are ruins, all that remains of the city abandoned by its inhabitants in the 19th century. Greater Zimbabwe is located in the state of Zimbabwe in the Masvingo province.
Walls of the city of Ston in Croatia: against the backdrop of a picturesque landscape
Europe has its own famous walls, including the walls of the city of Ston on the Peljesac peninsula (southern Croatia). They were built at the narrowest point of the peninsula as the second line of defense for the city of Dubrovnik (and the Dubrovnik Republic) in the 15th century. The walls were protected by precious salt lakes, which brought considerable income to the treasury. Now the walls are surrounded by a picturesque landscape and border a hill overgrown with forest.
Border between Scotland and England: Hadrian's Wall
At the beginning of the 2nd century AD, the Romans began building Hadrian's Wall, which was supposed to prevent raids by Scottish tribes on their colonies (the territory of modern Great Britain). The time-worn wall stretches from the Irish Sea to the North Sea and is a kind of border between England and Scotland. It is the longest wall in Europe and an important tourist attraction.
Child of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall arose for political reasons at the peak of " cold war"in 1961, dividing the city into two zones - eastern and western. The pro-Soviet authorities tried in this way to stop the East Germans from escaping to the West. The barrier turned out to be effective, although there were always brave souls who dared to overcome the wall; some died on this path to freedom. In total, there are a little more than five thousand people who were able to climb over the “border.” In 1989, the most famous wall of the European continent fell, parts of it were left as historical monument, and now it is covered with bright graffiti.
The main shrine of the Jews: The Western Wall in Jerusalem
The Western Wall, also called the Western Wall, is located in Jerusalem in the heart of the Old City. This is one of the main Israeli shrines and, of course, the most famous wall in the world. Half of the Wall (below street level) was built in ancient times - in the 19th century BC (end of the Second Temple period), as scientists suggest, this is the surviving part of the Temple Mount wall. The upper part of the Western Wall was completed in our era after the destruction of the temple. In numerous crevices of the Wall, pilgrims leave notes - requests to the Almighty.
The most famous wall stretches for many thousands of kilometers
The planet's most famous wall, said to be visible from the Moon, is the Great Wall Chinese wall, one of the seven modern miracles Sveta. About the Moon - these are, of course, lies. But from Earth's orbit the wall is visible. It was built between the 3rd century BC and the 17th century (when new sections and structures were added to the wall) to protect the Empire from the northern tribes. The wall is protected by UNESCO and is considered the largest architectural monument: its length is more than 8.8 thousand km (according to other sources - more than 21 thousand km), if you count all the sections and branches.
Few people in the world have not heard of the legendary Great Wall of China. The world's longest man-made structure has served as a symbol of China for many years, but it also has its own secrets. Today you will learn 25 amazing facts about the Great Wall of China, which will be new to you.
25. Almost everyone believes that the length of the wall is 6276.442 kilometers, but in fact its real length is 8851.392 kilometers. The first value is the actual length of the wall itself, but in fact one should also take into account the natural barriers that were intended to be component walls.
24. It took more than two thousand years to build the wall. The first segments of the wall were laid in the 8th century BC.
23. Over the years, the wall has changed names. Originally called the "Barrier", "Revelry" or "Fortress", it later acquired more poetic names such as "Purple Border" and "Land of the Dragon". Only at the end of the 19th century did it receive the name that we know to this day.
22. And although the wall is more than two thousand years old, most of the time it was unknown to residents of other countries. The first Europeans to set foot on the Great Wall of China were the Portuguese, among whom was the famous discoverer Bento De Gois.
21. Legends that say that some of the building materials were made from human bones are lies. In fact, the materials for the construction of the wall were all the objects available at that time, such as clods of earth, stones, wood, bricks, clay tiles and lime.
20. While some parts of the wall are carefully maintained and repaired, the rest of it is in in emergency condition. The fact is that in the 1970s, the wall was seen as a symbol of despotism, and people were encouraged to use parts of the wall as building materials for their homes.
19. Construction of the wall was officially completed in 1644, when the last ruler of the Ming Dynasty was overthrown. Since then there has been no further activity here. construction work, with the exception of those necessary to maintain the integrity of the wall.
18. At its widest point, the wall reaches 9 meters in width, and its maximum height here is 3.66 meters. The highest point of the wall is at a distance of 7.92 meters from the surface of the earth.
17. On at the moment It is difficult to determine how many people were actually involved in building the wall, but some studies have suggested that the number may have been as high as 800,000.
16. There is a popular myth that the Great Wall of China is visible from the moon. But in reality this is not so, the Great Wall of China from the moon looks the same as a human hair from a distance of 2 miles.
15. In fact, the wall cannot be seen with the naked eye even from the lowest Earth orbit, which lies only 150 kilometers above the Earth's surface. And although some astronauts claimed that they saw it from space, in reality it turned out that they confused the wall with rivers.
14. Protection from invasions from the north was not the only reason for the construction of the wall. It was also used to facilitate border controls, levy duties on imported goods, and regulate trade and immigration.
13. According to legend, a huge dragon showed the place and direction of construction of the wall to the workers. He walked along the borders of the country, and workers erected a wall at the site of his tracks. Some argue that even the very shape that the wall formed bears some resemblance to a soaring dragon.
12. The Great Wall of China was visited by a huge number famous people and politicians, among whom were American presidents: George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Barack Obama.
11. The wall served as a venue for some sports competitions. In 1987, British long-distance runner William Lindsay ran solo over 2,400 kilometers on the wall.
10. The familiar construction wheelbarrow was invented by the Chinese during the construction of the Great Wall of China.
9. For many centuries, thousands of battles and battles were fought on the wall. The last battle took place in 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
8. Built at equal distances along the wall, fortified watchtowers served as signal stations, transmitting messages over long distances using smoke, flags and beacons.
7. The highest point of the wall's relief is located on Mount Heita, near Beijing, and reaches an altitude of more than 5,000 meters above sea level.
6. The wall is also known as “the longest cemetery in the world” because hundreds of thousands of workers died during its construction. Many of them were buried in the foundations of the wall.
5. In 1987, UNESCO included the wall in its list of the greatest national and historical sites in the world.
4. Some tour operators organize night excursions. At night, the wall is illuminated by a line of lights, which creates an unprecedented atmosphere of magic and antiquity.
3. Due to its huge size, the wall is quite difficult to take care of. Currently, two organizations are involved in this: the Great Wall of China Society and the International Friends of the Great Wall.
2. As an important part of Chinese culture, the wall was surrounded by an aura of legends and mysteries. The most famous legend is the story of Meng Jiang Nu, the wife of a farmer who was forced to work on the wall during the Qin Dynasty. When the sad news reached the woman that during the work her husband had died and was buried in the wall, she cried so bitterly that her crying caused the part of the wall where her husband’s remains were hidden to collapse, giving her the opportunity to bury him normally. In memory of this story, a monument was erected on the wall.
1. The Great Wall of China is the most popular and visited tourist site in the country. Tens of millions of tourists flock here every year. On October 1, a record attendance was set when more than 8 million people visited the wall during the Chinese National Day.
Great Croatian Wall October 5th, 2016
A small town in Southern Dalmatia, on the Peljesac peninsula, located at the junction of the peninsula with the mainland.
Founded in 1333. Consists of two parts - Mali Ston and Veli Ston. In the Middle Ages, these lands belonged to the Dubrovnik Republic and were its important acquisition, since the shallow gulf of the Ston Isthmus is incredibly rich in salt deposits. High-quality salt is still mined here today.
The city often suffered from earthquakes, so few architectural antiquities have survived to this day. The main attraction of small Ston is the Ston Walls on the mountain. They are partially preserved and have recently been restored. The Ston Walls are the longest defensive complex in Europe, the second longest in the world, after the Great Wall of China.
Photo 2. 
Between Ston and Maly Ston there is a complex of fortifications. Their construction began in 1334 to protect the Dubrovnik Republic, which included the Peljesac peninsula in 1333, from invasion from the mountains, mainly to protect the economically important Stonian salt basins from capture.
Photo 3. 
During the Republic of Dubrovnik, the walls were renewed and completed, and their total length was 5.5 km. The walls had 40 towers and 7 fortifications, and due to their monumentality and power, they were called “European” Chinese wall"The basis of the defensive structures, built so skillfully that the city was truly impregnable from the coast, were three fortresses - the Great Kashtio in Ston, the Koruna in Maly Ston and the fortress on the Podzvizd hill. The Great Kashtio was at the same time residential building, granary and weapons depot. Koruna, a powerful fortress with five towers overlooking the sea, began to be built in 1347, and for centuries served as a port for the import of salt.
After the fall of the Republic of Dubrovnik, the walls began to be destroyed, and the stone blocks that made them up were sold as building material for the construction of schools and public buildings. Today the remains of three towers and majestic walls are visible. Arriving in Ston, in addition to visiting the walls, you need to try the famous shells - “kamenitsa” - grown here.
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Tourists especially enjoy the night battle, when the city is bombarded with flaming arrows and fiery cannonballs. In that pageant, knights fight for old town Zrinskikh. After all this, guests go to taste medieval cuisine. Porridge from a variety of grains is prepared over an open fire, and ducks doused in honey are baked. At the exhibition of ancient crafts, visitors can try the popular drink “gvirts”, which is made from honey, and also see how household items that are sometimes forgotten these days were made.
During the celebration of the Battle of St. Helens special attention is given to children. In the specially built Princess Palace, which is located on 300 square meters, parents and children can take part in numerous games and competitions. Adults can try their hand at archery. Experienced instructors will explain to everyone all the intricacies of this skill. Guests will also be able to walk on stilts, compete in wooden sword fighting, etc.
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If you climb to the very top of the restored part of the wall, which will be discussed below, you can see the lagoon. A unique place where the river slowly flows into a narrow sea bay, which is why the salinity in the latter is an order of magnitude lower than the Adriatic average.
They say that oysters grown in such water are incomparable.
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The Republic of Dubrovnik became a thing of the past, and in 1808 power over Dubrovnik and Ston passed to the French. Napoleon was not very interested in salt. The reason for this was cheap salt from Malta, supplied by the British.
But the French also became a thing of the past, and in 1813 the Austrians came. At the beginning they planned to invest in the expansion of Solana, but this was not destined to happen, despite the fact that salt from Ston was served at the Vienna Court. Salt production during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy averaged between 200 and 400 wagons.
During the Republic of Dubrovnik, when sea water was allowed into the pools, a certain ritual was performed. The procession from the Church of St. Blaise went to Solana and the blessing of the whole complex was given, a mass was held in the Church of Our Lady of Luzhinsk. The Prince, Solana workers and residents of Ston took part in the mass and in the procession. The same thing was repeated on August 15, the Day of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. The main celebration was held on August 24, the day of St. Bartul, who is considered the protector of miners. The Church of St. Bartul and the Bartholomew Fortress are located at the very top of Mount Podzwizd nad Ston on its northern side. The chronicles say that all the inhabitants of Ston and the surrounding area baked oxen and sheep that day, sang and danced the whole night.
In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1925, one of the salt crystallization pools was lined with asphalt. And that was all that the state did for the Ston Solana.
During the reign of Tito in Stonskaya Solana, which at that time was called “Solana Ivan Mordzhin Crny”, was built in 1925 railway, along which a small locomotive transported wagons of salt from salt pans to warehouses. Thus, the laborious and difficult process of loading salt with a shovel into trolleys under the scorching sun was slightly mechanized. But production continued to depend on the number of sunny days available for the crystallization process.
Characteristics of salt: the only salt that does not taste bitter and the only salt that does not require anti-caking additives - it is always loose.
Average salt production in recent years is 1500 tons. If the year is rainy, then there is no salt collection at all. Most big harvest salt was collected in 1611 - 6011 tons, then salt was paid for in gold. The Adriatic Sea is the northernmost sea in the world where salt is mined naturally- evaporation.
Photo 7. 
What future awaits the Stonian Solana? Over the past 20 years, the average salt production here is about 1,500 tons. Salt consumption in Croatia ranges from 100 to 120,000 tons, which means that about 90-100,000 tons of salt are imported into the country annually. It seems that the future of the oldest Solana in Europe is not so rosy. Its director and owner Svetan Sveto Pejic says: “The future of Ston Solana is in the production of environmentally friendly salt. And for this it is necessary to line the crystallization pools with granite tiles. It is expensive, but the result is worth it. And this must be done to preserve the one-of-a-kind Solana , whose work has not stopped for 4,000 years, no country in our surroundings can boast of anything similar."
Anyone who believes that with good will and good material support from the relevant ministries in these territories it is possible to produce salt of such quality that the whole of Europe will envy us will agree with these words. This is the only way to preserve the unique Ston Solana, which every day is becoming an increasingly desirable object of attention for numerous tourists. Solana attracts many people, especially young people, who look forward to getting involved in the salt harvesting process themselves.
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For thousands of years people have built walls. Some buildings have already been erased by time. Others have appeared more recently. We have already written about the Chinese Wall. Now we decided to “walk” along the other seven most famous walls in the world.
Walls of Sacsayhuaman (Peru)
The name comes from the language of the South American Quechua people - literally “well-fed hawk”. And the legend says that on the site of the capital of the Inca Empire in ancient times, the golden staff of the first Inca, Manco Capac, “entered the land.” When did his descendants, already at the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. They built the House of the Sun on a hill, surrounded the shrine with three jagged zigzag walls made of blocks and boulders of gray Yukai limestone without fastening mortar. And in plan, the city of Cusco resembles the sacred animal of the Incas - the puma. The walls of Sacsayhuaman are teeth in her mouth.
They worked for more than 50 years. The most vulnerable area was covered with a 400-meter-long wall and raised to 6 meters. The parapets behind which the soldiers were hiding were knocked out. The entrances were blocked with lifting stones. According to the testimony of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, who compiled the “History of the Inca State,” the “teeth” of the walls, going, thanks to the fractures, seem to checkerboard pattern, made it possible to drive the attackers into the crossfire.
Since 1983, the Walls of Sacsayhuaman have been protected by UNESCO.
Walls of Babylon (Iraq)
Babylon – “Gateway of the Gods” and “first metropolis” of Ancient Mesopotamia. It was protected by a moat with water 80 meters wide and three impregnable belts of walls. The earliest include Bolshaya and Apel-Sina. Mention of them is preserved only in cuneiform from the era of the king of the 1st dynasty - Sumuabum.
The main wall - Imgur-Enlil (with a total perimeter of more than 8000 m) - has survived in fragments to this day. It dates back to the end of the Kassite period, when symmetrical settlement plans appeared in Mesopotamia. Nemed-Enlil - thinner and lower - in the form of a shaft. Both, after the Pyramids of Giza, are considered the second oldest of the 7 Wonders of the World. Nebuchadnezzar II during the Neo-Babylonian era - around 600 BC. - supplemented them with an “eastern hook”. I brought the thickness of the main one to 5.5 m. I dug ditches to groundwater. On the western side of the Euphrates he founded a new part of the city and surrounded it with walls. This is how a monolith of a quadrangular fortification grew, through which the river flowed. He built an outer wall on the outskirts, creating additional shelter.
Hadrian's Wall (Great Britain).
The border of the Roman Empire during its heyday and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Named after the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who took the throne in 117 AD and turned the Shaft into one of his most ambitious projects and the most iconic monument of British antiquity.
It was built by the hands of three legions from stone and peat from 122 to 126. The reason is the continuous raids of the Picts (painted) and detachments of the Celtic tribe of the Brigantes, who inhabited the lands of Scotland. Length 120 km, width – about 3 m, height – from 4.5 to 6 m. He crossed the island in a narrow isthmus - along the border zone from the Sigidunum fortress near the River Tyne to the Solway Firth. It was supplemented by a chain of forts that could accommodate from 60 to 1000 soldiers. They were separated from each other by 1300 m. Every 500 m there were also signal towers.
American novelist George Martin “copied” Icy from Adrianova for his fantasy cycle “A Song of Ice and Fire.”
Great Wall of Ston (Croatia)
The “Chinese Wall of the Mediterranean” is the longest in Europe - 7 km. After the earthquake of 1667, only 5.5 remained. When Venetian craftsmen began to build it in 1334, the Peljesac peninsula came under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Dubrovnik.
At that time, not only the city of Ston needed protection, but also its unique salt deposits. In 1506, the construction of the wall that blocked the narrow passage to the peninsula from the mainland was stopped, fortified with 40 towers and 5 fortresses. By that time, the saltworks brought the Republic 15,900 ducats a year.
Now crowds of tourists wander along the wall, and not halberdiers guarding the “white gold”.
Great Wall of Kumbalgarh (India)
"India's Great Wall of China." In ancient times it was called the “eye of Mewar” (Death Guard). The oldest and second longest continuous length on the planet is 36 km. Width - 4.5 m. 7 gates, 700 bastions, inside the Kumbalgarh fort and more than 360 temples. Located in the central part of the western state of Rajasthan. At an altitude of 1050 m in the Aravali mountains.
It took over 100 years to build. When they started in 1143, it collapsed. And then, according to legend, the guru of the ruler Rana Kumbha predicted that the wall would not stand until the gods were appeased. And some pilgrim sacrificed himself. The main gate was erected at the site of his grave.
Israeli separation barrier
Israel began to build 703 km with a 60-meter right-of-way along the West Bank of the Jordan River during the premiership of Ariel Sharon in 2003. Only 25 km in the vicinity of Jerusalem are made of reinforced concrete. The rest are normal metal fence with barbed wire and motion sensors. Protects border villages from Palestinian terrorist attacks, sniper fire and prevents Arabs from mixing with the Jewish population.
The Hague court recognized the “barrier” as a violation of international law, but the number of terrorist attacks was halved.
Walls of Constantinople (Türkiye)
When in the 4th century AD. Constantine the Great founded a city named after him on seven hills and ordered the construction of a wall to protect against attacks by barbarian tribes. When Theodosius II took the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th century, the city had already crossed the Seven Hills line, and the barbarians did not calm down. And from 408 to 413, the construction of a new defensive ridge with a length of 5630 m was underway. After the earthquake of 447, it was strengthened and a wide ditch was dug.
Height interior wall– 12 m. Width – 5. There are 100 towers 20 meters high every 55 meters. External wall- lower and thinner. Of its 96 towers, 10 are pass-through. One is triumphal - it has the Golden Gate - three marble arches are crowned with a winged allegory of Victoria. The middle walls, 1250 m long, are the most vulnerable. It was they who were stormed in 1453 during the siege of Constantinople by Mehmed II.
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