Written by Mike Kaplan; most recent update: November 3, 2023
Since ancient times, people have constructed walls to demarcate boundaries, keep intruders, or keep themselves inside. Walls have also been constructed as artwork and memorials in more modern times. But wherever they are, barriers dominate the landscape regardless of their use.
Wall of Ston
Situated on the Peljesac peninsula in southern Croatia, The Walls of Ston are a sequence of defensive stone walls. A wall was constructed from the villages of Ston to Mali Ston at the narrowest point of the peninsula, just before it joins the mainland. Along with its 40 towers and five fortifications, the 5.5 km (3.5 mi) wall connecting these two minor settlements was finished in the fifteenth century.
Ten Known Walls Around the World
Written by Mike Kaplan; most recent update: November 3, 2023
Since ancient times, people have constructed walls to demarcate boundaries, keep intruders, or keep themselves inside. Walls have also been constructed as artwork and memorials in more modern times. But wherever they are, barriers dominate the landscape regardless of their use.
Contents Table of
10. The Ston Wall
Ston’s Wall
Situated on the Peljesac peninsula in southern Croatia, The Walls of Ston are a sequence of defensive stone walls. A wall was constructed from the villages of Ston to Mali Ston at the narrowest point of the peninsula, just before it joins the mainland. The wall spanning 5.5 kilometers (3.5 miles) connects these
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall
In Washington, D.C., there is a national war memorial called the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Vietnam Memorial, which is frequently called the most emotional monument in the city, honors those who have passed away or vanished and was built to stand above political controversies in honor of the warriors who made the ultimate sacrifice.
One of its main features is the Memorial Wall, created by Maya Lin. It consists of two walls made of black granite that have the 58,256 names of the soldiers carved on them.
Walls of Troy
Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, made Troy, a fabled city in what is now northwest Turkey, famous. This is the location of the Trojan War, according to the Iliad. There are multiple levels of ruins at the Troy archeological site.
The stratum Troy VIIa, which dates to the middle to late 13th century BC, is most likely the Troy described in Homer’s Odyssey. There are still traces of Troy’s renowned walls visible. These days, Troy welcomes a sizable influx of tourists every year. The site is heavily marketed, with a big wooden horse constructed for kids to play on, followed by stores and a museum.
Hadrian’s Wall
The Romans constructed Hadrian’s Wall to keep the Scottish tribes away from their province, Britannia. From the Irish Sea to the North Sea, it travels 117 kilometers (73 miles) through the northern part of England. After the Roman Emperor Hadrian visited in 122 AD, work on the project began, and it was mostly finished in six years.
Approximately 9,000 men, comprising both infantry and cavalry, were stationed to guard the wall. Even though there are only a few remaining sections of this well-known wall, it is one of England’s most visited tourist destinations. A national trail runs from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway along the complete length of the wall.
Berlin Wall
Construction of the Berlin Wall began in 1961. It was a desperate but effective move by East Germany to stop East Berliners escaping from the Soviet-controlled East German state into the West of the city, which was then occupied by the Americans, British and French.
During the Wall’s existence, around 5,000 people attempted to escape circumventing the wall, with estimates of the resulting death toll varying between 98 and 200. As the Iron Curtain cracked in 1989 hundreds of citizens began physically tearing down the concrete division. Today remnants of the famous wall in Berlin can be found at Bernauer Strasse and in front of the Neiderkirchnerstrasse, the former Prussian Parliament and current Berlin Parliament
The Great Zimbabwe is a collection of stone ruins that are dispersed over a sizable portion of contemporary Zimbabwe, which bears the ruins’ name. The site is referred to as “Great” to set it apart from the hundreds of smaller ruins found elsewhere around the nation, called as Zimbabwes. The building, which lasted more than 300 years, was carried out by native Bantu people beginning in the eleventh century.
Great Zimbabwe is thought to have had up to 18,000 residents at its height. With walls as high as 11 meters (36 feet) and a length of over 250 meters (820 feet), its most impressive building, known as the Great Enclosure, is the largest ancient structure south of the Sahara Desert.
High above Cusco in Peru lies the Inca walled complex known as Sacsayhuamán. The puma, an animal that represented the Inca dynasty, was used to design the layout of the imperial capital of Cusco. The main square served as the puma’s belly, the hill of Sacsayhuamán as its head, and the river Tullumayo as its spine. Huge lime stones are used to build three parallel walls at varying levels. There is a theory that the walls’ zigzag pattern symbolizes the puma’s fangs.
The largest boulders are those utilized in the initial or lower levels. The largest weighs approximately 140 metric tons and stands 8.5 meters (28 feet) high. The way the wall is constructed allows just a single sheet of paper to
One of the first wonders described by Antipater of Sidon was the Walls of Babylon, the ancient Mesopotamian city-state. “I have gazed upon the walls of impregnable Babylon along which chariots may race,” the poet opens his poem. The Ishtar Gate was one of the Seven Wonders of antiquity. It was built as a portion of the renowned Walls of Babylon in 575 BC.
The walls and gate were built from blue-glazed tiles that featured rows of aurochs and dragons in relief. On top of the ancient ruins, Saddam Hussein began new building in 1983 in addition to restoration work. If you think going to Iraq would be too dangerous, the Pergamon Museum in Berlin has a replica of the Ishtar Gate and walls that are partially constructed from materials that were unearthed in Babylon.
Located in Jerusalem’s Old City, the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, is a well-known Jewish holy site. Herod the Great built well over half of the wall, including its 17 courses below street level, towards the end of the Second Temple period, in 19 BC. Beginning in the seventh century, the remaining strata were added.
The Western Wall is revered in Judaism as the only remaining portion of the Holy Temple. Because it is the closest authorized site to the Temple Mount’s Foundation Stone, the holiest place in Judaism, it has become a destination for Jewish pilgrims.
Between the 5th and the 16th centuries, the Great Wall of China was constructed, reconstructed, and maintained to keep northern nomadic tribes out of the Chinese Empire. The term “Great Wall” has been applied to a number of constructed walls. The wall constructed by Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, between 220 and 206 BC is one of the most well-known, albeit not much of it still stands. The Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) is largely responsible for the construction of the current wall.
According to the most thorough archeological assessment, the Great Wall’s total length, including all of its branches, is 8,851.8 kilometers (5,500.3 miles). The Great Wall’s state varies from good to