Long before the Eifell Tower watched over Paris and the Golden Gate Bridge connected Californians like never before, these massive monuments were like all buildings — spectacular works in progress. But from the scaffolding and the equipment would rise some of the most iconic manmade structures in human history.
From the Sydney Opera House to the Empire State Building, here are 20 photos of monuments before they were completed.
1
Golden Gate Bridge — San Francisco, California
2
Alcatraz — San Francisco, California
3
CN Tower — Toronto, Canada
4
The Louvre — Paris France
5
Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) — Chicago, Illinois
6
La Sagrada Familia - Barcelona, Spain
7
Sydney Opera House — Sydney, Australia
8
Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater — Mill Run, Pennsylvania
9
Lincoln Memorial — Washington D.C.
10
Washington Monument — Washington D.C.
11
Tokyo Tower — Tokyo, Japan
12
Empire State Building — New York City, New York
13
The Gateway Arch — St. Louis, Missouri
14
London Eye — London, England
15
The Big Buddha — Hong Kong, Hong Kong
16
Eiffel Tower — Paris, France
17
Statue of Liberty — New York City, New York
18
Petronas Towers — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
19
Mount Rushmore National Memorial — Keystone, South Dakota
20
Christ the Redeemer — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
