THE OLDEST BUILDINGS IN THE WORLD

DHAMEK STUPA, INDIA.

Dhamek Stupa is a massive stupa located at Sarnath,

13 km away from Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.

It was built in 500 CE to replace an earlier structure commissioned by

the great Mauryan king Ashoka in 249 BCE, along with several

other monuments, to commemorate the Buddha’s activities in this location.

Stupas originated as circular mounds encircled by large stones.

King Ashoka built stupas to enshrine small pieces of calcinated bone and

other relics of the Buddha and his disciples.

An Ashoka pillar with an edict engraved on it stands near the site.

SANCHI STUPA, INDIA.

The ‘Great Stupa’ at Sanchi is the oldest stone structure in India

and was originally commissioned by the emperor Ashoka the Great

in the 3rd century BCE. Its nucleus was a simple hemispherical brick

structure built over the relics of the Buddha. It was crowned by the chatra,

a parasol-like structure symbolising high rank, which was intended to

honour and shelter the relics. It has four profusely carved ornamental

gateways and a balustrade encircling the whole structure. The

construction work of this stupa was overseen was Ashoka’s first wife,

Samragyi (Empress) Vidisha Devi herself.

THRACIAN TOMB OF KAZANLAK, BULGARIA.

The Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak is a vaulted brickwork “beehive”

tomb near the town of Kazanlak in central Bulgaria. The tomb is situated

near the ancient Thracian capital of Seuthopolis. The tomb is part of a

large Thracian necropolis. It comprises a narrow corridor and a

round burial chamber, both decorated with murals representing a Thracian

couple at a ritual funeral feast. The monument dates back to the

4th century BCE and has been on the UNESCO protected World Heritage Site

list since 1979.

PARTHENON, GREECE.

The Parthenon is a temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece,

dedicated to the maiden goddess Athena, whom the people of

Athens considered their patron. Its construction began in 447 BC

when the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power.

It was completed in 438 BC, although decoration of the building

continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of

Classical Greece. The Parthenon is regarded as an enduring symbol of

Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy, western civilization and one of

the world’s greatest cultural monuments.

MINOAN PALACE OF KNOSSOS, GREECE.

The palace of Knossos was the ceremonial and political centre of

the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace was excavated and

partially restored under the direction of Arthur Evans in the earliest years

of the 20th century. Its size far exceeded his original expectations, as did

the discovery of two ancient scripts, which he termed Linear A and

Linear B, to distinguish their writing from the pictographs also present.

The palace was abandoned at some unknown time at the end of the

Late Bronze Age, ca. 1380–1100 BC. The occasion is not known for certain,

but one of the many disasters that befell the palace is generally put forward.

The abandoning population were probably Mycenaean Greeks, who had

earlier occupied the city-state, and were using Linear B as its administrative

script, as opposed to Linear A, the previous administrative script.

GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA, EGYPT.

Also known as the Pyramid of Khufu is the oldest and largest of the

three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza,

Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and

the only one to remain largely intact. Egyptologists believe that the

pyramid was built as a tomb for fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu

over a 10 to 20-year period concluding around 2560 BCE. Initially at

146.5 metres (481 feet), the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made

structure in the world for over 3,800 years.

PYRAMID OF DJOSER, EGYPT.

Located in Saqqara necropolis, Egypt, The Pyramid of Djoser

was built during the 27th century BC for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser

by Imhotep, his vizier. This first Egyptian pyramid consisted of six

mastabas built atop one another. The pyramid originally stood 62 metres

tall, with a base of 109 m × 125 m and was clad in polished white limestone.

The step pyramid is considered to be the earliest large-scale cut stone

construction. The oldest known unworked stone pyramid structure dates to

3000 BC in the city of Caral, Peru.

 TARXIEN TEMPLES, MALTA.

The Tarxien Temples are an archaeological complex in Tarxien, Malta.

They date to approximately 3150 BC. The site was accepted as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. The Tarxien consist of three separate,

but attached, temple structures. The main entrance is a reconstruction

dating from 1956, when the whole site was restored. At the same time,

many of the decorated slabs discovered on site were relocated indoors

for protection at the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. The first temple has

been dated to approximately 3100 BC and is the most elaborately

decorated of the temples of Malta.

LA HOUGUE BIE, JERSEY

La Hougue Bie is a historic site, with museum, in the Parish of

Grouville, Jersey. This site was in use around 3500 BC. The site

consists of 18.6 metre long passage chamber covered by a 12.2 metre

high earth mound. The site was first excavated in 1925 by the

Société Jersiaise. In Western Europe, it is one of the largest and

best preserved passage graves and the most impressive and

best preserved monument of Armorican Passage Grave group.

During World War II it was used as a key lookout point, and

an underground command bunker was built in the mound and adjacent.

TUMULUS OF BOUGON, FRANCE.

The Tumulus of Bougon or Necropolis of Bougon is a group of

five Neolithic barrows (Tumulus A,B,C,D,E,F) located in Bougon, France.

Their discovery in 1840 raised great scientific interest. To protect the

monuments, the site was acquired by the department of Deux-Sèvres in

1873. Excavations resumed in the late 1960s. The oldest structures of

this prehistoric monument date to 4800 BC.