Human race has come to sanctify every artifact that symbolized and represented their existence. Likewise, they wept these symbols when they decay. Every monument and city, especially the one that is considered historical, used to be preserved by specialists. They also would study it carefully and decode its secrets. Useful results come up in most cases to shed light over how we used to be and what tools we owned. Sometimes such secrets would take decades to be solved, but it always worth the effort. For the sake of the following generations, the world have preserved us a plethora of artifacts and cities that expressed a blend of different generations. From the Middle East, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia; history was encrypted on walls and in the beauty of man-made buildings. The following are the most ancient of them.
10 Xi’an
Xi’an was founded in 1100 BC. When ancient China used to have more than one capital, Xi’an used to be one of them. The great thing is that this city is still there as it is the capital of Shaanxi, the Chinese province. It is very important for having many Chinese monuments and archaeological artifacts.
9 Cholula
Cholula was founded in 500 BC and though it was started as a Columbian city, it was ruled afterwards by the Mexicans and continued to be Mexican. The great pyramid of Cholula is the most famous landmark of this city. It stood beautifully there for so long time.
8 Plovdiv
The old Eumolpus after the occupation of Macedonians got its name changed to Plovdiv. It then became part of what is known today as Bulgaria. Plovdiv is a very big city and the largest one in Bulgaria.
7 Lisbon
As the capital of Portugal, Lisbon is such an old city that has precede many of the so called ancient cities. Rome itself comes in the second place to this old and historical Lisbon. It is home for many of the countries’ ancient monuments and modern beauty.
6 Damascus
Founded in 1700 BC, the city of Damascus used to have a long and prolific history. Unfortunately, this history is exposed to be wiped out by what is happening in the city as the result of the modern uprisings. The capital of Syria had lost many historical mosques and monuments recently the thing that threatens the city’s extinction.
5 Athens
Founded in 1400 BC, Athens is more than 3000 years of age. The capital of Greece houses monuments that are the focus of the world attention in terms of archaeology. Architecture students always seek to obtain their degrees from countries like this one mainly because of its historical monuments.
4 Varanasi
Located in Uttar Pradesh of India, Varanasi has some religious associations. In their religion, Indian believe that the person who dies in Varanasi should be considered lucky since this city is holy and grants paradise for the person who dies on its land.
3 Jerusalem
Divided between Palestinians and Israeli people, the city is the headquarter of historical conflicts and bloodshed that have concealed its historical beauty that was there since 2000 BC.
2 Rome
Another ancient city that is considered an architectural haven for the world’s most creative architects and artists was founded in 753 BC. From just a group of cities, Rome was able to build its empire known as the Roman empire. This greatness, though, did not last for so long, as it faded in less than 50 years.
1 Istanbul
What was known as Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453 and the Ottoman empire was established in place. Afterwards the Republic of Turkey was founded and remained until today. The succession of different civilizations gave a mix cultural that tastes delicious!
