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Temple at Segesta, Sicily, Italy


Segesta (Calatafimi-Segesta) was the political center of the Elymian people. It is placed in the northwestern part of Sicily, in the province of Trapani and in the vicinity of Alcamo and Gibellina.

The unfinished hexastyle doric temple of Segesta, (late 5th century BC) is built on a hilltop just outside the ancient city of Segesta with a commanding view of the surrounding area. It is one of the best-preserved Greek temples, partly because of its isolation - there was never any temptation to dilapidate it for local building materials and never desecrated because it had never been completed. It would be a peripteral temple if it had ever had an enclosed cella within it. But it was never roofed over, and its columns stand in the rough, waiting to be fluted.

It was built by the Elymian people, probably around 430-420 BC, but it was never completed.

It is a Doric temple of a peripteral type with 6×14 columns on a base measuring 21×56m and three steps high. The structure of the temple is intact with entablature and tympana in place, but it was clearly never finished. The columns are unfluted, the tabs used for lifting the blocks are still present on the base, and there are no traces of a cella or a roof.

The temple of Segesta is, in its construction, style, and size, a standard product for the late 5th century BC, but its unfinished state and its remarkable state of conservation makes it one of the most important surviving Hellenic temples in the world.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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Rivington Pike, Bolton, England


Rivington Pike stands on Rivington Moor, near to Winter Hill, 361m (1200 feet) above sea level. Part of Chorley Borough, it overlooks the town of Horwich, near Bolton in the North West of England.

In times gone by, Rivington Pike was known as Rounpik (c.1280) and Riuinpik (c.1380), names thought to have originated from the Norse language.

On the Pike is a tower, which was built in 1733 by the owner of Rivington Hall, John Andrews, when he became sole owner of the Rivington estate in 1729. The stone used was taken from the original fire platform and from the bed of the River Douglas. It is a square tower, with sides 5m (17 feet) and 6m (20 feet) high.

At one time it had a wooden roof and windows in all four sides. The single internal room was 4m (13 feet) square with a stone flagged floor, a fireplace and a cellar. It was used for shelter when grouse shooting parties visited the moors, but this stopped in 1900 when W.H.Lever bought the Estate. The tower is now bricked up and is a Grade 2 listed building.

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Peel tower - Arnside Tower, Arnside, England


Arnside Tower, a Pele tower built in the 14th/15th century as a defence against raids from Scots and the Border Reivers.

Peel towers (spelt Pele towers in England) are small fortified keeps, built along the English and Scottish Borders, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by moss-troopers to warn of approaching danger. By an Act of Parliament in 1455 each Peel Tower was required to have an iron basket on its summit and a smoke or fire signal, for day or night use, ready to hand.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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St Walburge’s RC Church, Preston, Lancashire, England


St Walburge's RC Church is a church located in Preston, Lancashire, England.

It is one of the tallest building in Lancashire with a steeple or spire (tower) of 309 feet. This makes the building one of the tallest churches in the United Kingdom.

Work began on the construction of the church in May 1850 and was completed for an opening ceremony on August 3, 1854.

The church resembles a cathedral and holds a commanding position over Preston city. The tower contains a single bell of 30 Cwt (1.5 Tonnes) cast by John Taylor Bellfounders of Loughborough and is thought to be the heaviest swinging bell in Lancashire.

The St Walburge's has the tallest steeple of any non-cathedral church in the United Kingdom, the only two taller examples being found on cathedrals. The steeple is constructed from limestone sleepers which originally carried the nearby Preston to Longridge railway line, giving the spire a red tint during sunset. The steeple was the last to be worked upon by steeplejack and TV personality Fred Dibnah.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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Telstra Stadium, Sydney, Australia


Telstra Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park precinct of Homebush, Sydney, Australia which was completed in March 1999. The stadium was originally built at a cost of $690 million to host the 2000 Summer Olympics. The stadium was called Stadium Australia before Telstra acquired the naming rights in 2002 (until 2009, with further options), renaming the ground Telstra Stadium.

The stadium was originally built to hold 110,000 spectators, making it the largest Olympic Stadium ever built as well as the largest stadium in Australia. In 2003 reconfiguration work was completed to reduce the capacity to 83,500 for a rectangular field and 73,000 for an oval field. Roofs were also added over the North and South stands, which means that now 90% of all seating is under cover.

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The Giant s Causeway, Northern Ireland


[Currently only low quality pictures available]

The Giant's Causeway is an area of 40,000 tightly packed basalt columns resulting from a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago1. It is located along the northeast coast of Ireland about 3 km north of the town of Bushmills in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 (by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland). In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, Giant's Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom. The Giant's Causeway is owned and managed by the National Trust.


Tallinn, Estonia


Tallinn (recent historical name: Reval) is the capital city and main seaport of Estonia. It is located on Estonia's north coast to the Baltic Sea, 80 kilometres south of Helsinki.

The origin of the name "Tallinn(a)" is certain to have been Estonian, however the original meaning of the name is still debated. It is usually thought to be derived from "Taani-linn(a)" (meaning "Danish-castle/town"; in Latin: Castrum Danorum) However, it could also have come from "tali-linna" ("winter-castle/town"), or "talu-linna" ("house/farmstead-castle/town"). The element -linna, like German -burg and Slavic -grad originally meant "castle" but is used as a suffix in the formation of town names.

Tallinna replaced the previously used official German name Reval (Russian: Ревель) in 1918, when Estonia became independent. In the early 1920s the official spelling of the city name was changed from Tallinna to Tallinn, making the new name notable since Estonian-language placenames generally end with a vowel. However, somewhat confusingly to non-Estonian speakers, the word Tallinna still appears in modern Tallinn as the -a suffix can denote the genitive case (thus Tallinna Lennujaam translates literally as Tallinn's Airport).

Historical names

The name Reval (Latin: Revalia, earlier Swedish: Räffle) originated from the 13th century Estonian language name of the adjacent Estonian county of Rävala. Other known ancient historical names of Tallinn include variations of Estonian: Lindanise (Danish: Lyndanisse, Swedish: Lindanäs, Old East Slavic: Ledenets), Finnish Kesoniemi, and Old East Slavic Kolyvan (Колывань).


Tallinn Airport, Tallinn, Estonia


Tallinn Airport or Ülemiste Airport (IATA: TLL, ICAO: EETN) is located approximately 4 kilometers from the city center of Tallinn on the eastern shore of Lake Ülemiste. Being the largest in Estonia, it is the country's main airport and home base of the national airline Estonian Air. Tallinn Airport is open to both domestic and international flights.

The airport has a single asphalt-concrete runway that is 3070 meters long and 45 meters wide, four taxiways and five terminal gates.

(Source: Wikipedia)

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