It is painful to see how monuments and historic buildings destroy tsunami with typhoons or people themselves. Nature, whose forces are acting chaotically, do not interfere, and it is not always possible to stop the destructive activity of a person. Meanwhile, entire cities are destroyed or buried forever under volcanic ash. However, some works of architecture can survive, and one can not help but note: they look terribly beautiful!
Chapel of St. Paul in New York, USA
Compared with most buildings destroyed under various circumstances, the chapel of St. Paul was extremely fortunate. September 11, 2001 terrorists managed to destroy the World Trade Center, but the Manhattan shrine not only stayed in place, but also received no damage. The attendants who arrived in the chapel the next day found her unharmed. Not even injured near the cemetery!
Pompei, Italy
The ancient city was destroyed in 79 AD when the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius. Pompeii was covered in ashes in a matter of seconds. To its inhabitants the catastrophe did not give a single chance of salvation. The city was actually buried alive. However, the bodies of the townspeople and the architecture of Pompeii are preserved and now look almost the same as they were centuries ago.
The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany
In 1945, Berlin was subjected to massive bombing by the Allies. However, located in the center of the city Brandenburg Gate miraculously managed to survive all the scourge of World War II. This is the only Berlin monument that has not been destroyed by bombs!
Cologne Cathedral, Germany
After the bombing of 1942 in Cologne, not a single surviving building remained, except for the old Gothic cathedral. The city was dropped more than a thousand bombs, in a matter of minutes turned his center into ruins. Only the Cologne Cathedral, tall and proud, remained standing among the smoldering ashes.
Atomic dome in Hiroshima, Japan
The atomic bombing of Japan in 1945 shocked the whole world. One of the bombs was dropped on Hiroshima and destroyed the city by 90 percent, killing thousands of people. Only the building of the exhibition center of the Hiroshima Chamber of Commerce and Industry survived the nuclear explosion. Now it has a new name "Atomic Dome".
Sanjo-jinja Temple in Nagasaki, Japan
The second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The explosion occurred only 800 m from the temple of Sanno-jinja, which he destroyed. From the Zionist shrine there were only dilapidated stone gates - torii. One column was knocked down, the second by a miracle stood, turned on a pedestal by 30 degrees.
Baiturrahman Raya Mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia
In 2004, the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh was wiped from the face of the Earth by one of the most deadly tsunamis in history. After the disaster, only the mosque survived, which became home and a symbol of hope for hundreds of people who lost their homes and loved ones.
Water Tower Chicago, Illinois, USA
The water tower built at the beginning of the 19th century was supposed to supply the townspeople with drinking water. However, in 1871 in Chicago a great fire began. Most of the buildings were made of wood, and the fire quickly destroyed them. The great Chicago fire survived only a few stone buildings, and one of them was a water tower. It still rises in the city, but its functions no longer fulfill.
Bodnath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal
In 2015, this spectacular Buddhist monument survived one of the most powerful earthquakes that ever happened in Kathmandu. Most of the buildings, including the tower of Dharaharu, located nearby, were destroyed. However, the stupa Bodnath sustained and remained almost intact.
Pripyat, Ukraine
The history of mankind does not know a more terrible catastrophe than the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Radioactive contamination caused to it, at times exceeded the consequences of the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Tens of thousands of people were urgently evacuated from the danger zone, including from the nearby Pripyat, which eventually turned into a ghost town. Here you can still see schools with educational supplies and homes with items forgotten in a hurry, urban buildings and parks, slowly inferior to the forces of nature. Already very soon the once lively Pripyat will be swamped by forests and even for researchers there will be nothing remarkable.