Showing posts with label Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Society. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

8 Mysterious Underground Cities

 From ancient hideouts to Cold War-era bunkers, explore eight astonishing settlements beneath the Earth’s surface.


1. Derinkuyu


The volcanic rock landscape of Turkey’s Cappadocia region is pockmarked with several different underground cities, but perhaps none is as vast or as impressive as Derinkuyu. This labyrinthine complex dates to around the 8th century B.C. and was most likely built to serve as a refuge during periods of war and invasion. With this in mind, its 18-story interior was a self-contained metropolis that included ventilation shafts, wells, kitchens, schoolrooms, oil presses, a bathhouse, a winery and living space for some 20,000 people.


2. Naours 

Located in northern France, the underground city of Naours includes two miles of tunnels and more than 300 man-made rooms—all of them hidden some 100 feet beneath a forested plateau. The site began its life around the third century A.D. as part of a Roman quarry, but it was later expanded into a subterranean village after locals began using it as a hiding place during the wars and invasions of the Middle Ages.


3. Wieliczka Salt Mine

Also known as the “Underground Salt Cathedral,” Poland’s Wieliczka Salt Mine is a massive subterranean complex of rooms, passageways and statues located on the outskirts of Krakow. The site dates to the 1200s, when miners first descended beneath the earth’s surface to find rock salt. In the centuries that followed, they slowly carved the mine into a warren of galleries and tunnels that extended more than 1,000 feet underground. When they weren’t digging for “white gold,” the workers also used the mine’s salt crystal deposits to build a stunning collection of chapels, chandeliers, statues and bas reliefs, including a detailed replica of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”


4. Lalibela

In the 12th century A.D., a devout king ordered the construction of 11 eye-catching Christian churches in the Ethiopian village of Lalibela. This “New Jerusalem” is notable for having been fashioned from the top down: all of its churches were hewn from volcanic rock below the earth’s surface then hollowed out, giving them the appearance of having grown directly out of the ground. The most iconic building is the cross-shaped Church of Saint George, which was cut from a monolithic slice of stone inside a trench 100 feet deep. It was then connected to the rest of the complex via a network of underground passageways, hidden caves and catacombs. Legend has it that the construction of Lalibela took just 24 years, but many historians believe it was actually completed in phases over several centuries.


5. Beijing Underground City

In the 1960s and 70s, as the threat of nuclear war loomed, the Chinese government ordered the construction of a mammoth fallout shelter beneath their capital of Beijing. Also known as Dixia Cheng, the hand-dug site was supposedly capable of safeguarding around one million people for up to four months. It consisted of fallout-proofed rooms and tunnels that snaked their way underground over an area of several dozen square miles. Certain passageways were reportedly large enough for tanks to pass through, while other housed purpose-built schools, hospitals, granaries and restaurants. There was even a skating rink and a 1,000-seat movie theater. 


6. Petra

Famed for its cameo in the film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” Petra is an ancient caravan city tucked away in the mountains of southern Jordan. The site has been inhabited since prehistory, but it reached its peak some 2,000 years ago, when the ancient Nabataeans hand-chiseled the surrounding sandstone hillsides into a dazzling collection of tombs, banquet halls and temples. One of the most exquisite edifices is Al Khazneh, or “the Treasury,” which includes an ornamental façade that extends 130 feet up a rock face. Petra may have been home to 20,000 people at its height, but it was later abandoned sometime around the seventh century A.D. and wasn’t known to Europeans until the 1800s. Excavations at the site are still ongoing today, and it’s believed that the vast majority of its ruins may still lurk underground.


7. Orvieto

The Italian hilltop town of Orvieto is known for its white wines and picturesque architecture, but its most mysterious wonders lie underground. Beginning with the ancient Etruscans, generations of locals burrowed their way deep into the volcanic rock bluff on which the city was originally built. The subterranean maze was first carved to build wells and cisterns, but over the centuries it grew to include more than 1,200 interlocking tunnels, grottoes, and galleries. Some chambers include the remnants of Etruscan-era sanctuaries and medieval olive presses, while others show signs of having been used as storage places for wine or roosts for pigeons—a common local delicacy. Orvieto’s underground city was also frequently employed as a hiding place during times of strife. As recently as World War II, people were still using certain sections as bomb shelters.


8. Burlington

In the event of a Cold War-era nuclear strike, the most important members of the British government would have retreated to a 35-acre underground complex located 100 feet beneath the village of Corsham. This “Burlington Bunker,” as it was codenamed, was first built in the 1950s from a series of existing tunnels and stone quarries. It contained office spaces, cafeterias, a telephone exchange, medical facilities and sleeping quarters—all of it designed to keep the British Prime Minister and some 4,000 other key government personnel alive during an emergency. There was even an in-house BBC studio that the PM could use to address the public. While never put into active use, the Burlington facility remained partially operational until 2004, when it was finally decommissioned and declassified.












Wednesday, March 24, 2021

STONEHENGE Places - Megalithic Sites

 Archaeological evidence found by the Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2008 indicates that Stonehenge could possibly have served as a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. The dating of cremated remains found on the site indicate that deposits contain human bone material from as early as 3000 BC, when the initial ditch and bank…








Saturday, July 16, 2011

Dai Nam Park - Buddhist Hell Theme Park in Vietnam



Bao Thap Tower rises up from the side of Bao Son, the Tallest Man-Made Mountain Range in Vietnam
A private Amusement Park graces Vietnamese Culture and History with its Man-Made Marvels


Situated in Thu Dau Mot District in the Southern Province of Binh Duong
Dai Nam Park is 45 km from downtown Ho Chi Minh City


Launched in 1999, the Ist Phase of the US$171 million project has been completed to create a vast Temple

with adjacent Hotel, an open Zoo, an Amusement Park, a Water Park with Machine-Made Waves
and an imposing set of Mountain Peaks


Dai Nam opened to the public on 11th September, last year
After complition of 2nd Face in 2010

Dai Nam will be the Biggest Theme Park in Vietnam
many times the size of its nearest rival, the 55- hectare Suoi Tien Park in HCMC

The 450-hectare Amusement Park is still under construction
Excavators and Bulldozers are still digging and flattening the ground in places

but nearly all the roads are finished and the Free Trams are carrying Visitors around the Park

Inside the Temple is a central chamber with gilded statues of the Buddha

It's not a Museum, it is a Theme Park in Vietnam - 'Buddhist Theme Park'

It was a little like Pirates of the Carribean
only incredibly lame, tech-wise

Rides and Stuff, plus this Animatronic Display of the 12 Torments of Hell
for those people who'd committed particular Crimes

There was one Specific Punishment for Gamblers
one for Adulterers, another for Drug-Takers

It is kind of Amusing how different members of the family
If you're ever in Saigon, you have to visit, it's truly strange

The park has a website where you can watch short MPEG movies
of attractions including the Hell Exhibit

The whole Park is surreal check out the wicked cool photos these gigantic swimming pools
with faux-stone monuments of Gods watching over

Wonder Garden


These Are The Wonderful Gardens with Awesome Garden Work which Make Them Amazing
 
Kaliyo'n Ne Ghoonghat Khole

Har Phool Pe Bhanwra Dole

Lo Aaya, Pyaar Ka Mausam

Gul-o-Gulzaar Ka Mausam

Kaliyo'n Ne Ghoonghat Khole

Jab Tu Chaman Mein Aaye

Har Guncha Muskuraaye

Hai Be-Hijaab.. Tera Shabaab

Hum Ho Gaye Deewaane

Lo Aaya, Pyaar Ka Mausam.. Gul-o-Gulzaar Ka Mausam
Kaliyo'n Ne Ghoonghat Khole