Environmental factors helped agriculture, architecture and eventually a social order emerge for the first time in ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia's name comes from the ancient Greek word for "the land between the rivers." That's a...

A brash, self-made millionaire helped fund the fight for independence, but after the war, he ended up in debtor's prison. Without Robert Morris, the American Revolution may have been crushed under a mountain of debt and disarray. The...

Etruscan temple design had a huge impact on Renaissance architecture and one can see echoes of Etruscan columns in many buildings of the Renaissance and later in Italy. View pictures and read the history behind these temples in this...

History of the Ziggurat of Ur, c. 2100 BC Located in Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq. Includes links to additional information.

Famous for monumental architecture, Persian kings established numerous monumental centers. This article looks at one of those centers: Persepolis. Read about the history and view pictures of the architecture, art, and sculptures of...

Explore the history of Gothic art through amazing images and links to vast amounts of information.

Robert Venturi's New Castle County House offers a modest but instructive example of the Post-Modern style set. Even though he never liked the stylistic term Post Modern, his buildings and critical writings helped propel late 20th-century...

The Sullivan, Carson, Pirie, Scott Building in Chicago is an important example of early Chicago skyscraper architecture, and can also be seen as a fascinating indicator of the relationship between architecture and commerce. View pictures...

Caral was an architectural marvel - a 1,500-acre complex constructed by the oldest known civilization in the Western Hemisphere. Colossal pyramid structures in the Americas as old as those in Egypt? The Sacred City of Caral-Supe, in...

Marcus Ulpius Traianus, now commonly referred to as Trajan, reigned as Romess emperor from 98 until 117 C.E. and had a reputation as a good emporer. A massive architectural complex-referred to as the Forum of Trajan was devoted to...

When the World Trade Center's Twin Towers opened to the public in 1973, they were the tallest buildings in the world. Statistics: They rose a quarter-mile in the sky, contained 15 miles of elevator shafts, and nearly 44,000 windows. From...

This icon of classical architecture perched atop the Acropolis has dominated the Athens skyline for 2,500 years. Few monuments in the world are more recognizable than the Parthenon. Sitting atop a limestone hill rising some 500 feet...

Journey with Sir Dig-a-Lot and Rohan as they explore the ins and outs of Greek Architecture.

Short thematic essay on the architecture of ancient Greece touches on a number of different aspects of Greek architecture, including the Greek architectural orders, the role of the architect, the quarrying of stone, and building practices.

Machu Picchu was built as a royal estate for the first Inca emperor, Pachacuti Inka Yupanqui, in the middle of the 15th century in modern-day Peru. View pictures, read about the architecture, and learn how it was used in the Incan society.

Frank Lloyd's Wright's internationally celebrated house, Fallingwater, is an example of Organic Architecture which stems from Transcendentalism - the belief that human life is part of nature. Read the history and view pictures of this...

Le Corbusier's famous dictum, that "The house should be a machine for living in," is perfectly realized within the forms, layout, materials, and siting of the Villa Savoye. View pictures and details of this house on this site.

The church of Sao Francisco, with its curving geometries and lively ornamentation, stands in sharp contrast to traditional early modern Portuguese architecture which generally favored simple plans and exteriors. View pictures and read...

Check out this site to discover more about the Ancient Maya culture. An article and video are provided. [2:19]

A one-page resource that answers all the essential questions about what is meant by the term "architectural style." Considers style in terms of context, historical period, vernacular evolution, and "themed" architecture.

The devastating impact of conflict and civil strife on internal heritage is clear in Mali. Read about the internal efforts Mali has taken to protect its cultural patrimony.

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this page provides an explanatory description of the 6th-century church Hagia Sophia in modern-day Istanbul. Various images of the structure and links to other related topics are also included.

Read an article by XML highlighting a presentation by World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee in which he describes his vision for the Semantic Web. Includes slides from Mr. Berners-Lee's talk.

A series of public spaces in Rome called fora were built by Roman emperors and contained monumental art and architecture. View examples and read descriptions of Imperial fora built by Julius Caesar and Augustus.