40 Fascinating Things From The Past That Survived For Future Generations To See, As Shared On This Facebook Group

This masterpiece is a wonderful example of sculptor Raffaelo Monti's skill. We can’t see through stone, but through tricks of light and polish, Monti created the illusion that we can. On his Veiled Lady, the top of the head and shoulders are polished smooth, to reflect light. But where the veil falls across the face, the marble is less polished. It reflects less light, suggesting the texture of fabric. Sculptures of veiled figures peaked in popularity during the 1700s in Italy, an opportunity for sculptors to show their technical mastery over marble. About a century later, Monti and other artists revived this technically demanding tradition.

The sixth-century stone mosaic, spanning some 1,200 square meters and made up of geometric shapes and non-repeating figures, was probably used as a public space in its time, archaeologists believe.
The stone is distinctive due to its curved, rug-like surface, and the artifact grew curved as a result of earthquakes in 526 and 528 AD.
Despite the quakes, however, the mosaic never broke, and made it to the present day intact and unbroken.
Unearthing the piece took nine years of hard work, and other historical artifacts were brought out during the excavation.
The massive mosaic proved that the mosaics of Antakya - ancient Antioch, in the Hatay province - are the finest historical artifacts not only in Turkey, but in the entire world

The carefully placed structure, believed to be made from local slate, is circular in formation and provides a perfect frame with a view overlooking the Borrowdale Valley in Cumbria, England.

It sank in 1628 CE, less than a mile into its maiden voyage and was recovered from the sea floor after 333 years almost completely intact. Now housed at Vasa Museum in Stockholm, is the world's best preserved 17th Century CE ship.

Don’t be confused friends....
This wasn’t built by the Aliens.
But were carved by human hands through the hard work & believe towards God, our Ancestors made this impossible possible and it shows, how great & efficient they were.
Suchindram Anjaneyar Temple, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu

It is adorned with hundreds and thousands of pieces of broken pottery and iridescent shells
The bijou place of worship, tucked away in Les Vauxbelets valley, 'feels magical and otherworldly'

These dwellings, which are about 15,000 years old, are some of the oldest shelters known to have been constructed by pre-historic man.

The relics were unearthed in Susa, southwestern Iran, dating from Elamite Period, C.1150 BC

When archaeologists later arrived to the site, they revealed that the city was 18 stories deep and had everything needed for underground life, including schools, chapels, and even stables.
Image credit: Nevit Dilmen/Yasir999

Photo: Corning Museum of Glass

The Ethiopian bible, which was written on goat skin, was the world's first illustrated Christian Bible and was written around the early 5th Century CE

Also known as the City of Popes (four popes hailed from town), Anagni is crowned by its beautiful romanesque cathedral dating back to turn of 11th and 12th centuries
Photo by: @carthe [ig]

The cathedral then passed the commission to his older brother who made the statue on the right

Here we see one of the earliest surviving recipes ever written in the ancient Akkadian language. The artifact is dated to be from around c. 1750 BCE., and is a well intact cuneiform tablet that shows us 25 recipes for stews, whereas 21 are meat stews and 4 are of vegetable stews, but it does not give the measurements or cooking time. The tablet's text was translated by Jean Bottéro and Teresa Lavender Fagan and is now located at Yale University.

The road connected Rome with central and northern Italy and was built in the second half of the 3rd century BC.

The Bronze Age settlement of Akrotiri was one of the most important Minoan urban centres and ports in the Aegean Sea when it was covered by volcanic ash in the 17th century BC.
In prehistory it was a well connected Minoan port town, with connections to mainland Greece and as far afield as Egypt and Syria.
As the town was covered in ash following a volcanic eruption on the island, preservation of the settlement is exceptional, making this one of the most significant archaeological sites in Greece

Mehrangarh located in Jodhpur Rajasthan is one of the largest forts in India. Built in around 1459 by Rao Jodha the fort is situated 410 feet above the city and is enclosed by imposing thick walls. Inside its boundaries there are several palaces known for their intricate carvings and expansive courtyards.

Also known as (The Cursed Fort) This is one of the largest Fort in the world and probably the strongest. Its located near Jodhpur and is situated 410 feet above the city. This fort has been part of several battles but enemies could never conquer this mighty fort.

Location : Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Built in 600 BC, and greatly expanded in 450 BC, fortress sits atop a large hill 914m long. In Iron Age, hundreds of people lived there

Not far from the Albanian border, but none can match the simple beauty of the "Konitsa Bridge"; a single span pedestrian bridge that crosses the Aoos River.
The Epirus Region of Greece is known for its rugged beauty, its mountain ridges, and alpine flora and fauna. It’s also famous for the stone arch bridges that cross the region’s rivers, connecting a network of historic towns and villages.
Arguably the most charming of these bridges is the Konitsa Bridge (sometimes called the Aoos Bridge), which spans the Aoos River just to the south of Konitsa. Completed in 1870, it was the work of the architect and engineer Ziogas Frontzos from Pyrsogianni, a small village some 20 miles north of Konitsa.
Despite his provincial education—he learned much of his craft in the quarry near his village—Frontzos nonetheless impressed the Turkish engineers who had previously tried and failed to build a bridge over the Aoos. When the Turks asked him where he had studied, he proudly told them he had studied at the University of Pyrsogianni, in the “quarry outside the village where young craftsmen were taught the secrets of this art.”
The elegant single-arched bridge is 66 feet (20 m) high and 115 feet (35 m) in length, which could quite well make it the largest single arch bridge in the Balkans. It’s narrow, however, just wide enough for pedestrians, livestock, and carts to pass from one side to the other.
It’s also not the kind of bridge you’d want to stumble across in an inebriated state. The low walls at either side don’t offer much of a barrier between pedestrians and the river below. Because of this, a bell still hangs under the arch to warn passersby of strong winds, which could make the crossing dangerous.
The fact that this pretty bridge still stands at all is no mean feat. The Turkish Army tried unsuccessfully to burn it down in 1918 and later attempts to blow it up during the Greco-Italian war and the civil war that followed also proved fruitless. Ziogas Frontzos would surely be proud that his picturesque arch, a seemingly fragile and fairytale-like construction, managed to survive these various threats.
Source: The Hiking Experience

This little store in Dresden is the “World’s Most Beautiful Milk Shop,” an official title bestowed upon it by the Guinness Book of World Records. That claim might be hard to verify, but there can’t be many contenders rivaling the sumptuousness of Pfunds Molkerei.
The milk shop was opened in 1880 by Paul Gustav Leander Pfund, and was fortunate to survive the heavy bombing during World War II that destroyed most of the city. Little has changed inside the shop since then, although much has changed outside, namely the inventions of refrigeration and pasteurization that have made milk easier to keep at home.
But today Dresdenites aren’t just walking into this splendid dairy shop for a tall glass of milk. Now, they come for the atmosphere. The entire interior is decorated with hand-painted Villeroy & Boch ceramic tiles. The shop is covered floor to ceiling with dancing angels, chubby babies, cows, and woodland creatures. It’s all accented in gold and blue, and lit by chandeliers, which might delude some into thinking this is a luxury jewelry shop, rather than one selling milk.
The wares inside haven’t changed much either. Pfunds Molkerei still sells milk and boasts one of the country’s finest cheese selections (though they were forced to limit it to a mere three state-sanctioned brands during the socialist years of East Germany). The cafe upstairs sells dairy-based delicacies, like tortellini with spinach and grated feta or pork in pepper cream sauce. The shop also offers chocolates, milk soaps, and cream-based liquors, though it can be hard to reach them through the hordes of German milk-lovers.

The Column of Marcus Aurelius is a Roman victory column that commemorates the military campaigns and triumphs of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It stands at the center of Piazza Colonna in Rome and is almost 100 feet tall. The column features a spiral relief depicting the military campaigns of Marcus Aurelius against the Germanic tribes along the Danube River. It is considered to be one of the best examples of Roman art and architecture and is a popular tourist attraction in Rome.

Baths were likely built between 212-217 CE, during reigns of emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla. They were in operation until 530s CE, and then fell into disuse and ruin.