Public transportation projects are religious construction efforts in 21st century America, motivated less by belief in a particular deity than by how much time and money they will take to complete. Take New York’s Second Avenue subway, for example. The first phase, which is less than two miles long, opened in 2017. Its construction cost $4.45 billion, and the line itself was first proposed 97 years ago. This is no big deal by ancient standards. The temple of Apollo at Didyma took six centuries. The Temple of Zeus at Olympia in Athens was completed a full 650 years behind schedule. And Heraion on Samos has finally surpassed the 800-year milestone.
These facts come from new told in stone video above “Longest construction project in history” Some of the buildings featured will be familiar to Open Culture readers. Examples include Notre-Dame Cathedral and Sagrada, which took nearly 200 years to build (and reopened this month after five years of fire-damage repair and restoration). Familia began construction in 1882 and is scheduled for completion in 2026. Excluding exterior decorations, it could last until 2034. Decoration is important in the architecture of this building. Type: That’s why Milan’s Duomo, whose construction began in 1386, wasn’t fully completed until 1965.
In the case of the Papare di San Pietro in Città di Vaticano, or St. Peter’s Basilica, the decoration process was also prolonged. The cathedral took 120 years to build between the early 16th and 17th centuries. Going by the schedule for such an ambitious project at the time, it could have been much worse. This High Renaissance church is notorious for its enormous cost, which today amounts to “tens of billions” of dollars. The video is sponsored by Microsoft and leads to the software giant’s AI-assisted 3D replica of St. Peter’s Basilica. We featured this replica here on Open Culture when it was unveiled this fall. Perhaps seeing it in all its glory will give New Yorkers a little more faith that the Second Avenue subway will reach 125th Street in our lifetime.
Related content:
Architectural tour of Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi’s bold church, built for 142 years
Construction and restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral, animation
Explore the world’s first 3D replica of St. Peter’s Basilica made with AI
The beauty and ingenuity of the Pantheon, ancient Rome’s best-preserved monument: an introduction
How the world’s largest dome was built: The story of Filippo Brunelleschi and the Duomo of Florence
How designing buildings upside down revolutionized architecture and made St. Paul’s Cathedral, Sagrada Familia, and more possible
Based in Seoul, Colin Mbemust write and broadcastIt’s about cities, languages ​​and cultures. His projects include the Substack newsletter books about cities and a book Stateless City: A Stroll Through Los Angeles in the 21st Century. Follow him on the social network formerly known as Twitter. @Colinbemust.
