10 Famous Landmarks That Narrowly Survived Catastrophe
When we think about famous landmarks, it seems as though they’ve been there practically forever. It’s a little strange to imagine a time when they didn’t exist, but it can be even stranger to contemplate that a lot of them came breathtakingly close to being destroyed forever.
This national treasure nearly didn’t exist in the first place, and then it was almost destroyed. George Washington himself canceled early plans to build it because the young U.S. was struggling financially.
Here’s another iconic U.S. landmark that almost never was. After the pieces were built, they were shipped across the ocean in a French vessel, but stormy seas nearly sank it.
Remember the Alamo? Well, no one would if General Sam Houston had gotten his way. To keep it out of enemy hands, Houston wanted to remove everything valuable from the Alamo and blow it up. Governor Henry Smith refused.
The most famous landmark in France wasn’t so popular with Parisians at the start. They considered it an eyesore and only agreed to its construction on the condition that it would be disassembled after 20 years.
People travel from all over the world to see this Egyptian landmark that’s over 4,500 years old, but we’re lucky to still have it. More than once over the centuries, neglect resulted in the sculpture being nearly buried beneath the desert sands