Famous Walls

The Great Wall of China is the longest man-made structure in the world, and it's so big it can be seen from space. It was built and rebuilt over a period of 2000 years, starting in the 6th century BC, to defend the Chinese Empire against its enemies.

It was obviously an important aspect of Chinese military strategy; the very fact that so much manpower was put into building it over such a long period of time is testament to this.

The Great Wall is over 4000 miles long, and is a series of walls and forts all connected to each other. Guards would have been posted along the wall to keep watch, their numbers reaching 1 million when China's military strength was most focussed here. Signal towers were built at frequent intervals to allow quick communication along the length of the wall.

Nowadays the Great Wall has been restored in places to meet the demand of tourists for visiting the structure. In others it has been left to decay as it not longer has a strategic use. Stones are used for building other things, or are being eroded by the weather.

The Berlin Wall separated East Berlin from West Berlin for almost 30 years. Built at the height of the cold war, it served to cut off Soviet-controlled Berlin from the French, British and American zones (Berlin was carved up between these countries following the end of the Second World War).

The wall was always unpopular, splitting up families and causing people to lose their jobs and livelihoods. America came under criticism for not listening to the needs of the German people, but rather serving their own ends against the Soviet Bloc. At the same time, East Berlin saw it as a means of shutting out their Western enemies.

There were some crossing points on the Berlin Wall, but people needed special permits and these were hard to get hold of. Hundreds of escape attempts were made by people trying to get over to the West side of the wall, but many were shot by guards and died this way.

The wall was demolised in 1989, reuniting families and allowing Berlin to become unified.

The Haus Am Checkpoint Charlie museum in Berlin is well worth a visit for anyone wanting more information on the wall.

The real-world city of Jericho did indeed have walls, and archaeolgical evidence shows that they were in fact destroyed over 3000 years ago. The most famous account of their destruction however occurs in the bible, and archaeologists and historians have puzzled over fitting in the timeline with the one that hard evidence suggests.

According to the bible the Walls of Jericho were destroyed due to Joshua blowing a trumpet. This allowed the Israelites to storm the city and kill all the inhabitants. Historical evidence suggests that a lot of cities in this region were destroyed but dating all the evidence correctly is difficult and there's a lot of debate over the right timelines.

Built by the Romans almost 2000 years ago, Hadrian's Wall is a World Heritage site and probably the most famous Roman monument in the UK. It spans the whole width of Britain, cutting off what's now Scotland from the rest of the country.

It was built to mark the end of the Roman Empire and to keep out the marauding tribes from the north, who the Romans failed to bring under their control. There are several garrisons along its length to house the soldiers who patrolled the wall, and each mile there's a miniature fort where soldiers would keep watch.

Lots of archaeolgy has been found in the old Roman garrisons, including everyday writing like shopping lists that gives an insight into the life of soldier's wives.

As the Roman Empire failed and pulled its resources back to its centre around the 5th century, the wall fell into disuse and disrepair. Locals began to use the stone for other things like houses and boundary walls, and now many parts of it are gone.

The middle section is the main bit that remains but visitors are asked only to walk it during the summer to help minimise damage and erosion.

The Wailing Wall is an important site in the Jewish religion; it is situated on the Temple Mount, on which stood Jewish temples before they were destroyed. It's over 2000 years old and more than 50 metres high. The wall wasn't so big at first but it was added to over the years by successive rulers.

The whole area has been disputed over for centuries by Romans, Jews, the Ottoman Empire and Muslims, and even now arguments arise over which religion has more significance there and who should be allowed access to the wall.

The Aurelian walls are the defensive city walls of Rome, built by the Emperor Aurelian in the 3rd century AD. They were constructed to keep out invading barbarians, give the people of Rome something to do, and reassert the power of the Roman government.

The protective walls enclosed all seven hills of Rome and were incredibly large. At over 8 metres high and 3 metres thick, they featured a guard post every 30 metres. Today much of the walls remain because they've been in constant use as Rome's main defence. They've been built on several times over the years to make them bigger and stronger.

There are several gates set into the walls, and many public buildings form part of them. This was as a time-saving measure when the walls were being built.