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Flailing lying silly obtuse Johnson makes it worse – politicalbetting.com

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  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,489

    Leon said:

    Mr. Leon, it may astound you as much (perhaps more) to know that the Colosseum was built using concrete (I think it was reinforced, but can't swear to it) as a primary building material.

    The Romans didn't have reinforced concrete. For a start, iron/steel was far too expensive.

    The Colosseum is mix - lots of rubble infill (with mortar) between walls. Quite a bit of concrete. Lots and lots of bricks...

    EDIT: The Pantheon is the astounding one, for concrete. Complete with variable density concrete used to lighten the loads in the right places....
    The Pantheon is the single most impressive building I have ever encountered. Simultaneously beautiful, serene, harmonious, and ageless - and yet technologically advanced to an extraordinary degree. It could be built today and you'd still say Wow

    Other contenders

    Hagia Sophia
    Temple of Hatshepshut
    Houses of Parliament (also technologically hugely advanced in their tine)
    Eiffel Tower (ditto)
    Angkor
    The Burj al Khalifa
    The viaduct at Millau
    Gobekli Tepe (if it counts as a "building")
    Teotihuacan
    The Greek temples of Sicily, Segesta in particular


    Interestingly, none in the USA, which is full of marvellous buildings, but their greatest invention - the skyscraper - has been successfully adopted elsewhere and there are now better examples outside the USA - eg the Burj


    The Pantheon is certainly an amazing building and in the top 10, for sure.

    There are a number of medieval catherdrals that deserve to be in there too - the difficulty is picking which one(s) as there are so many superb examples. I'd plump for Salisbury - an austere, unified beauty.

    Because the medieval cathedral builders (unlike the Romans) didn't have proper concrete, the gothic catherdrals are a brilliant balancing act.
    One strong contender, if you wished to have a UK cathedral, then Lincoln Cathedral should be in there, when it was built it was the tallesed building in the would, and was the first time that record had been since the great pyramid in Egypt.
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