Friday, January 15, 2010

The Towers of Babel | Seville Blog

The Towers of Babel

Posted by seville | seville | Friday 15 January 2010 12:21 pm

The skyscrapers that grow like mushrooms across the world remember the claim of men in the eleventh chapter of the Genesis book: they want to reach the sky. The Tower of Babel, the mythic construction of the Bible, is the utopia of many countries. Nowadays, the construction of towers seems to have replaced the plantation of trees: the seeds of the skyscraper expand everywhere. There are skyscrapers of impressive heights. Burj Dubai (828.m) was the last tallest tower inaugurated in the United Arab Emirates (Dubai). But the skyscrapers symbolize not only symbols of power and wealth, but increasingly they meet environmental, aesthetic and functional requirements… And the highest towers are not in the U.S. as you might think!

Tower of Babel

When King Kong was shouting on the top of the the Empire State Building in New York in 1933, it was symbolizing the endless quest for superiority of the Man. The skyscrapers are symbols of success, luxury, power and domination. Nowadays, we can say that the Tower of Babel is located in Dubai, but there are a large number of towers whose function exceeds the desire to raise the sky, let’s briefly review them:

-The Pyramid of Giza in Egypt (2,570 BC) measuring 146.m in origin, but now stands 136.m. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and was built with 2,300,000 blocks of stone.

-The Eiffel Tower in Paris (320.m) built between 1887 and 1889, the most tourist tower of the world!

-The Willy Tower in Chicago (Sears Tower, 1974) with 442.m and 108 floors. It has a rotating system of wind resistance.

-The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia (1998) were the first highest towers in the world with 452 meters. The amount of concrete used is equivalent to over 50 football fields.

-Taipei 101 Tower in Taiwan (529.m counting with the antenna, 502 without it) was completed in 2004 to withstand earthquakes intensity reaching 7 degrees on the Richter scale. Its 67 lifts are the fastest in the world with a speed of 60 km / h.

-The Shanghai Tower in China (632.m) will be the highest tower of China and it will use ecological systems, such as collecting rainwater for heating and air conditioning, wind turbines for ventilation and hanging gardens that will help to maintain the air quality.

-The world’s tallest building will be built in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It would have a height of 1 km and it would be called Forum Baf. It will be finished in 2016!

These are just some of the collection of towers that are erected to the sky. If you have vertigo, and the mere sight of a skyscraper give you dizzy, we recommend a visit to a smallest tower: the fabulous minaret of the Giralda in Seville (76.m). You will enjoy an incredible panorama. Get your tickets to the charming Andalusian capital and rent Apartments in Seville. You’ll love it!

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