Top 10 Places in the World You Need to Visit Before You Die

Most of us can appreciate the hard work that goes into things that are made by hand. Great architecture like that of Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water, Amazing cathedral ceilings like the Sistine Chapel done by Michelangelo, or Ice Age paintings. So here in this list I'm going to list the top 10 places you should visit before you die. This of course doesn't include museum paintings. I would have made it the top 5000 list, but that would just be way too long! I'm sure we all have the places we would like to visit, but here are a few you should add to your list:

The Angel of the North by Antony Gormley which is located in Gateshead United Kingdom. The Angel of the North is a steel sculpture of an angel standing approximately 66 feet tall, with wings measuring 178 feet across, work began in 1994 totalling well over 1million pounds. It stands on a hill on the southern edge of Low Fell.Spiral Jetty by Robert Smithson is an earth work sculpture constructed in 1970. The Spiral Jetty is made out of mud, salt crystals, basalt rocks, earth and water on the NE shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The Spiral Jetty is 1500ft long by 15 foot wide. Absolutely stunning!

Tikal - This is one of the largest ancient ruins in the Mayan civilization that still exists today, it is located in Guatemala's Tikal National Park. Go search this out online as soon as you can. Once you see it, it will look familiar to some of you. These are the same ruins that were featured in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Pretty cool!

Stonehenge - I realize this is probably a more familiar one for people. I know its been on my top 100 list for quite some time now. Stonehenge is a miraculous piece of work located in the English county of Wilt shire. Its said to have been erected in 2200 BC. The online information for this monument is incredible, please go take a look as soon as you can!

The Louvre - The Louvre is located in Paris France and is one of the worlds most visited art museums, a historical monument that began to be built in 1190 CE but was officially established in 1793. Originally it was built as a fortress and was even used as a residence. King Francis I built the Louvre in 1546, with the help of a french designer Pierre Lescot.

Great Pyramid of Giza - This pyramid is the ONLY remaining member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was constructed over a 20 year period, and was the tallest man made structure for over 3,800 years. The pyramid of Giza is located in Cairo Egypt in Africa.

Alhambra - This building is located in Southern Spain and was first constructed as a fortress. The complete name of this building is Qal'at al-Hambra which is translated into "The Red Fortress". Once you see a few pictures of this building you will see why its called that. This building was erected by Charles V, the holy Emperor in 1527.

Taj Mahal - The Taj is located in Agra India and was built from 1630 til 1653, the Architect is that of Emperor Shah Jahan. The building was originally erected as an Islamic Tomb and is still used for that purpose, even today. Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife are still buried at the center of the building.

Sistine Chapel - Im stealing this one and the next one because they are two that I really want to see! The painting on the side walls and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were painted by none other than Michelangelo himself. He started painting the 12,000 foot ceiling in 1508 and finally finished in 1512. The Sistine Chapel, is absolutely 100%, on of the places you have to see before you die. It is said the Chapel is Michelangelo's crowing achievement. Its absolutely spectacular.

Falling Water - This building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and is located in Pennsylvania and was designed in 1935. Falling Water has been listed in Smithsonian magazine under a list called "Life's List of 28 places to visit before... its too late" The architecture on this house is just stunning. There's absolutely no way to even begin to utter the words as to how amazing these house is. Its a "you have to see it for yourself" type of deals. So, go see for yourself!

I hope you enjoyed this little list. And I hope that maybe if you didn't know some of these places existed, or they weren't on your lists, that now they are. I tried to add a mixture of both architecture and paintings to the list, but didn't include paintings that are in Galleries or Museums, because that would be an even longer list than the 5000 one I half joked about above!