The Eighth Wonder of the World - Incredible! (Last in this Series)

Eighth Wonder of the World

There are a few considered for the title.
Four are listed here. They are constructions rather than natural wonders.

Pre-1900 creations

Part Eight

The Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal 'Crown of the Palace') is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (r. 1628–1658) to house the tomb of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.

Construction of the mausoleum was completed in 1648, but work continued on other phases of the project for another five years.

There are many myths surrounding it, including that it was actually built in the 12^th century. That it was designed by a Frenchman, another claims a Spaniard, an Italian and another by a Hindu King. No concrete evidence exists for claims that describe, often in horrific detail, the deaths, dismemberment and mutilations which Shah Jahan supposedly inflicted on various architects and craftsmen associated with the tomb.

Photo - Muhammad Mahdi Karim - Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23199927

The Taj Mahal is a major tourist attraction and attracts approximately five million visitors a year.

The Terracotta Army

The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting him in his afterlife.

The figures, dating from approximately the late 200s BCE, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers.

GFDL, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2103826

The figures vary in height according to their rank, the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the Terracotta Army hold more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses. Other, non-military figures have since been found in other pits, including those of officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians.

By kevinmcgill from Den Bosch, Netherlands - KAM_5048, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31690639

The Thames Tunnel

The Thames Tunnel is a tunnel beneath the River Thames in London, connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping. It measures 35 ft (11 m) wide by 20 ft (6.1 m) high and is 1,300 ft (400 m) long, running at a depth of 75 ft (23 m) below the river surface measured at high tide. It is the first tunnel known to have been constructed successfully underneath a navigable river. It was built between 1825 and 1843 by Marc Brunel, and his son, Isambard.

The tunnel was originally designed for horse-drawn carriages, but was mainly used by pedestrians and became a tourist attraction. In 1869 it was converted into a railway tunnel.