Tourist spots pull in huge crowds every year. However, what’s really interesting about them is the little details that most people miss. These include hidden math behind iconic towers & quirky old neighborhoods that disappeared to make way for parks. Here are ten facts about the most-visited tourist attractions. Do you know any strange stories tucked under the surface?
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Times Square’s subway maze
Most people know that the subway stop under Times Square is busy. Yet there are also some secrets behind it. It’s actually a system that was built by three rival private companies between 1900 & 1930. The result? Four different lines & 20 entrances, as well as a tunnel that links you to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Don’t be surprised if it feels like you’re walking in circles.
A village in Central Park
Long before picnics & joggers, Seneca Village existed in Central Park. It was a community mainly of free Black landowners that stretched between today’s 82nd & 89th Streets. But by 1857, the city cleared everyone out. This was just for the park project. The community had homes & schools, as well as churches, before it disappeared.
The Eiffel Tower bends
The Eiffel Tower sways. Engineers measured its first “bending mode” at around 0.32 hertz, which means the whole thing gently rocks back & forth every three seconds or so. You’d never notice it standing underneath. But the math says it’s moving. How amazing is that?
Cleaning the Louvre
Cleaning glass as tall as the Louvre Pyramid isn’t exactly a bucket-and-sponge job. After all, it’s around 21 meters. They use a robot with permanent magnets to climb the glass & scrub because it’s a lot safer than climbers dangling on ropes. You might even spot the little machine sliding around the panes.
Colosseum hypogeum
Today, you can see the Roman Colosseum’s stone walls. But there’s so much more to it. There’s the hypogeum underneath, which is about six meters deep, and it features lifts & tunnels. It also has roughly 30 shafts that link into water channels. Scholars believe these allowed stagehands to flood & drain the arena for naval shows.
The Sistine Chapel’s restoration
Anyone lucky enough to visit the Sistine Chapel should look up. However, you’re not simply seeing Michelangelo’s frescoes there, but colors uncovered only a few decades ago. The Vatican started the big restoration in 1980. This involved stripping away a lot of soot & glue that had muted the original brightness for centuries. You’re seeing it differently from people before.
The Taj Mahal’s inlay
Take a closer peek at the Taj & you’ll see delicate floral inlays. They might look like simple decorations, but these actually use more than 40 types of gemstones. These include carnelian & jasper. Even the lapis lazuli fits into white marble so smoothly that it’s hard to even feel the seams with your finger. It sure is incredible.
The Forbidden City’s doors
Those massive red gates in Beijing aren’t merely for show. Look closer & you’ll see shiny brass studs in rows of nine, specifically nine across & nine down. That makes 81 in total. In imperial China, nine meant authority & foreverness, so the pattern repeats everywhere inside the palace. The Forbidden City sure has lasted forever.
Niagara River’s water weight
The constant roar from Niagara comes from the river working overtime. There are around 6,500 cubic meters of water surging forward every second. A good comparison would be filling more than two thousand Olympic pools in about an hour, which is rather incredible for one river.
Machu Picchu’s terraces
Those green steps built into the sides of Machu Picchu helped with farming, but also so much more. Archaeologists studying the site found that the terraces are part of an advanced drainage system. The layers of stone & soil allowed heavy rain to filter down without eroding the slopes. Without them, the city would have faced constant landslides. Pretty clever, right?
The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:
- Times Square Subway Complex Pedestrian Movement Analysis
- Before Central Park
- Dynamic characterization of the Eiffel Tower
- Contemporary Superpositions As Heritage: The Louvre Pyramid
- How Roman engineers could have flooded the Colosseum
- Michelangelo Buonarroti: Restoration of the Frescoes on the Vaulted Ceiling and the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel
- Gemstones in the Era of the Taj Mahal and the Mughals
- Spatial Feature Analysis of the Beijing Forbidden City and the Shenyang Imperial Palace Based on Space Syntax
- Analysis of the Niagara River plume dynamics
- Ancient Machu Picchu Drainage Engineering
