other structures - events

c. 3000 BC	Europe	The building of megalithic monuments begins to spread throughout northwestern Europe. Great stones are used to build either chambered barrows (passage graves such as those found at West Kennet in Wiltshire, England, or at New Grange, Ireland) or, later, impressive monuments of upright stones for religious and/or social purposes (such as those at Avebury and Stonehenge in England, or at Carnac in France).
c. 3000 BC	Egypt	The arch, a fundamental architectural structure, is first used in Egypt at a tomb in Helouan, outside Cairo.
2686 BC	Egypt	The tomb of the Egyptian king Khasekhemui, last king of the 2nd dynasty, and often considered the founder of the Old Kingdom, is built. It is the earliest stone building that can be accurately dated.
c. 2590 BC	Egypt	King Snefru has two pyramids built at Dahshur in Egypt; the first, called the ‘bent’ pyramid, has a double slope and is the first attempt to build a true pyramid (one without steps). The second, the North Stone Pyramid, is the first true pyramid.
c. 2575 BC	Egypt	The Egyptian king Khufu (Greek Cheops) builds the Great Pyramid at El Gîza. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, it is the largest pyramid ever built, measuring 270 m/776 ft each side and standing 146 m/481 ft high. Consisting of 2.3 million bricks, each weighing 2,500 kg/2.5 tonnes, the pyramid is a marvel of engineering skill. Its base is an almost perfect square with its right angles deviating by only 0.05%. Alongside the pyramid a separate pit contains a dismantled boat. His nobles are buried in mustabas, mud-brick tombs covered with a flat-roofed superstructure of brick.
c. 2200 BC	Europe	The Avebury stone circles are constructed in Wiltshire, England. Consisting of three circles of about one hundred sandstone pillars, some weighing over 50 tonnes each, it is the largest such stone monument in Europe.
c. 1800 BC	Europe	More than 3,000 menhirs, or standing stones, are erected in several parallel rows 4.8–6.4 km/3–4 mi long at Carnac, Brittany, in France.
c. 1300 BC	Greece	Tholoi, dry-stone beehive-shaped tombs, are built outside the walls of Mycenae, Greece, demonstrating considerable architectural skill in their construction. Grave goods include engraved gems, ivories, and decorated pottery.
c. 1290 BC	Egypt	The Hypostyle Hall at Karnak, Egypt, started by Horemheb in 1320 BC but now completed by Ramses II, shows Ramses II in his chariot behind prancing steeds.
691 BC	Neo-Assyrian Empire	The Assyrian king Sennacherib builds the 20-m/66-ft wide Jerwan aqueduct which brings water from a tributary of the Greater Zab River to Nineveh 80 km/50 mi away. Stone-lined, and constructed in 15 months, according to a surviving plaque, the aqueduct uses advanced techniques including sluice gates and a 275 m/900 ft limestone bridge, 9 m/30 ft high and 15 m/30 ft wide. It is the earliest significant public water-works project.
c. 353 BC	Asia Minor	The building of the tomb of Mausolus, tyrant of Caria in Asia Minor, at Halicarnassus, is completed. The tomb becomes celebrated as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and gives rise to the word ‘mausoleum’. It is 125 m/411 ft square and has 26 columns on top of which rests a 24-step pyramid surmounted by a four-horse, marble chariot.
c. 350 BC	China	Work begins on Shan-yang Canal in China; it later forms the Southern Grand Canal.
336 BC	Greece	Philip II of Macedon is buried at Aegae (modern Vergina). In modern times (1977 AD) his tomb is discovered with the burial chamber intact and containing grave goods of a splendour unparalleled in the Greek world.
217	Roman Empire	The vast and magnificent baths of Caracalla are completed in Rome.
1150	Khmer Empire	A vast temple complex is built at Angkor Wat (in modern Cambodia) by the Khmer emperor Suryavarman II. The building is to be his mausoleum.
1231	India	The mausoleum of ‘Sultan Ghari’ (Nasir-ad-Din Mahmud, son of Iltutmish) is built in Delhi, India.
1391	Emirate of Granada, Spain	The Court of Lions in the Alhambra in Granada, one of the finest examples of Moorish art in Spain, is completed.
1530	Spain	The façade of the University of Salamanca, Spain, is completed. It is one of the finest examples of the Plateresque style, the decoration rich and finely worked.
1819–1826	UK	Scottish engineer Thomas Telford constructs the 177 m/580 ft Menai suspension bridge over the Menai Straits between Bangor, Wales and the island of Anglesey. The first modern suspension bridge, it uses chains of wrought-iron links suspended from masonry towers at either end. Lacking stiffening girders it is vulnerable to high winds.
1831	UK	London Bridge, designed by the British architects George and John Rennie, is completed in London, England.
1850	UK	English engineer Robert Stephenson's high-level bridge at Newcastle upon Tyne, England, opens. It is a two deck structure with railways on the upper level and a roadway underneath, with the iron decks carried on five stone pillars.
1851	UK	The Crystal Palace, in London, England, designed by the English architect and gardener Joseph Paxton, is completed. Designed to house the Great Exhibition of 1851, it is of a revolutionary design employing only prefabricated units of glass and iron and is the largest building in the world, 563 m/1,847 ft long, 139 m/456 ft wide, and 31 m/108 ft tall. It is destroyed by fire in 1936.
1854	USA	US inventor Elisha Graves Otis demonstrates his safety lift at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York by riding in it and ordering the rope to be cut.
21 April 1855	USA	The first bridge across the Mississippi, between Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa, opens to rail traffic.
4 July 1874	USA	The St Louis Bridge over the Mississippi River at St Louis, Missouri, is officially opened. Built by US engineer James Buchanan Eads, it consists of three hollow-steel arch trusses each over 150 m/500 ft long, making it the longest bridge in the world. A landmark in engineering, the arches are cantilevered so they can be raised, the foundations are planted to record depths of 30 m/100 ft, and it pioneers the use of structural steel.
24 May 1883	USA	The Brooklyn Bridge over the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York City, opens. Designed by German-born US engineer Augustus Roebling, and completed by his son Washington Roebling, the suspension bridge is the first to use steel cable wire and is the longest in the world, with a span of 486 m/1595 ft.
28 October 1886	USA, France	The Statue of Liberty is dedicated on Liberty Island (Bedloe's Island) in New York Harbour, New York, by US president Grover Cleveland. Designed by the French artist Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, on a frame built by Gustave Eiffel, it was presented to the USA by the French government to celebrate the 100th anniversary of US independence. Made of copper, it is 46 m/152 ft high. Its full name is Liberty Enlightening the World.
9 October 1888	USA	The Washington Monument, 202.2 m/555 ft high and built at a cost of $1.2 million, opens to the public in Washington, DC.
10 December 1902	Egypt	The Aswan Dam on the River Nile in Egypt is officially opened, having been started in 1898. The largest dam in the world, it is 2,142 m/7,027 ft long and has 180 sluices.
1921	Germany	The Einstein Tower in Potsdam, Germany, designed by the German architect Erich Mendelssohn, is completed, one of the finest examples of expressionist architecture.
1964	UK	Saint Catherine's College in Oxford, England, designed by the Danish architect Arne Jacobsen, is completed.
1973	USA	The Sears Tower opens in Chicago, Illinois; with 110 storeys and standing 443 m/1,454 ft high, it is the world's tallest building, until 1996.
4 July 1986	USA	The Statue of Liberty in New York City is reopened by US president Ronald Reagan in the presence of President François Mitterrand of France, following refurbishment in celebration of its 100th birthday.
1 December 1990	UK, France	British and French tunnelling engineers, working from opposite sides of the English Channel to build the Channel Tunnel, break through the last few yards of ground separating their excavations.
1 January 2000	UK	The Millennium Dome in Greenwich, London, England, opens to the public, and is scheduled to remain open throughout 2000. Some 12,500 people visit it on the opening day.