Famous buildings of the world: 20 landmarks, with the facts checked

The world’s famous buildings are mostly famous for a reason you can name: a dome nobody had managed before, a height record, or a new idea about how people should live. This list covers 20 of them, from the Great Pyramid of Giza to Burj Khalifa. Every date, designer and height comes from the building’s official site, a government heritage body, a museum, a university or a professional body, and each height is given in meters and feet.

The buildings are arranged by era so the styles line up in order. For definitions of the styles named along the way, see our guide to the types of architecture.

Famous buildings at a glance

What makes a building famous?

Size alone rarely does it. Most of the buildings in this list became famous because they pushed something past its known limit: a span, a height or a building method. Others got there by fixing an image of a whole culture in one shape. The Parthenon still stands for classical Greece, the Forbidden City for imperial China and the Sydney Opera House for modern Australia.

A useful test when you visit one: ask what the builders could not have done 50 years earlier. The answer is usually why it is on the list.

Ancient famous buildings

Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities dates the pyramid to the reign of King Khufu (c. 2589–2566 BC) and gives its original height as 146.5 m (481 ft). Harvard’s Digital Giza project names the vizier Hemiunu as its architect. Why it matters: the Ministry notes it was the tallest structure in the world for about 3,800 years, and it is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing.

Parthenon, Athens

The Acropolis Restoration Service, part of Greece’s Ministry of Culture, attributes the temple to the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates, with the sculptor Pheidias in charge of the overall work and the sculpture. It was built from 447 to 438 BC, and the pediment sculpture was finished in 432 BC. Why it matters: it is a Doric temple with many Ionic features, and the service describes the subtle curves and other optical refinements its builders used to lighten the heavy Doric style. More than 2,000 years later, American bank and courthouse designers were still copying its columns and pediments, a story we follow in Greek Revival architecture.

Pantheon, Rome

Italy’s Ministry of Culture says Marcus Agrippa built the first temple here in 27–25 BC and that the present building dates from Hadrian’s reign (AD 118–125). Its dome is 43.30 m (142 ft) across, the same as its height. Why it matters: the ministry describes it as the largest unreinforced dome ever built. It has also stayed in use, as a church since 609.

Medieval and early modern landmarks

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

Columbia University’s medieval architecture briefing dates the building to 532–537. Justinian rebuilt the cathedral after the Nika Rebellion, hiring the architects (mechanikoi) Anthemios of Tralles and Isidoros of Miletus. When an earthquake brought the dome down in 557, Isidoros the Younger rebuilt it, and the church became a mosque in 1453. Why it matters: the Columbia briefing calls it the last great example of Roman architectural invention on a grand scale, and the start of a new type of church with vaulted, domed and richly decorated interiors. Columbia’s wider briefing on Byzantine architecture pairs it with the Kariye Camii, but notes that Hagia Sophia is atypical of Byzantine churches.

Notre-Dame de Paris

France’s Ministry of Culture records that Bishop Maurice de Sully laid the first stone in 1163, and that most of the construction ran from 1163 to 1345. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste Lassus won the 1844 competition to restore it. After the 2019 fire, the golden cockerel was set on top of the rebuilt spire on December 16, 2023, about 96 m (315 ft) above the ground, and the restoration body’s own site says the cathedral reopened in December 2024. Why it matters: the ministry counts it among the oldest Gothic cathedrals in France, and rebuilding the spire and transept roof frames exactly as they were took about a thousand oak trees.

Forbidden City, Beijing

The Palace Museum says the Yongle Emperor built the palace from 1406 to 1420. The walled complex measures 961 m (3,153 ft) north to south and 753 m (2,470 ft) east to west, behind 10 m (33 ft) walls and a moat 52 m (171 ft) wide. It became a museum in 1925. Why it matters: the museum explains that its halls were designed to a strict traditional code of architectural hierarchy, so the buildings themselves signal the emperor’s authority and status.

St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City

Pope Julius II laid the first stone of the new basilica on April 18, 1506, and it marks the 400th anniversary of its dedication in 2026 (1626–2026). Its official site calls it a Renaissance building and credits the dome to Michelangelo, finished after his death by Giacomo della Porta. Gian Lorenzo Bernini added the Baroque Baldachin and Chair of St. Peter inside and designed St. Peter’s Square, completed in 1667. Why it matters: the tomb of Saint Peter lies beneath its main altar, which makes it a pilgrimage church as much as a monument; one of the talks in the basilica’s 2026 anniversary program is devoted to that pilgrimage.

Taj Mahal, Agra

The official Taj Mahal site says Shah Jahan built the white marble tomb for his wife between 1631 and 1648. He entrusted it to a board of architects, and the outer buildings and gardens were finished in 1653. The site adds that no one knows for certain who designed it. Why it matters: the site ranks it as the finest work of Mughal architecture, which blends Persian, Indian and Islamic traditions.

Himeji Castle, Japan

Himeji Castle’s official site says Ikeda Terumasa (1565–1613) rebuilt the castle in a major overhaul between 1601 and 1609. Two central columns, each 24.5 m (80 ft) tall, carry the main keep. The whole keep was dismantled, repaired and put back together between 1956 and 1964. Why it matters: the keep stands on a lattice of posts and beams rather than thick outer walls, all wrapped in plaster. That frame-first way of building is worth knowing before you look at modern Japanese architecture.

Palace of Versailles, France

The Château de Versailles traces the site back to the hunting lodge Louis XIII ordered in 1623. Louis XIV began major works in 1661, adding the “Le Vau Envelope” in 1668–1670, and from 1682 the palace was the main residence of the court and government. Why it matters: the palace says Louis XIV took on the role of architect himself, and from 1682 until the royal family was forced to leave for Paris in October 1789, one building held both the court and the government of France. The palace calls Jules Hardouin-Mansart, Louis XIV’s favorite architect, an icon of French Classicism, while the painted ceiling of his Hall of Mirrors is baroque.

The industrial age and Art Nouveau

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Gustave Eiffel’s design was picked unanimously from 700 proposals for the Paris Exposition of 1889, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. The exposition marked the centenary of the French Revolution. At 300 m (984 ft) as built, it stayed the tallest in the world until 1930. Its 18,038 iron pieces were bolted into sections about 5 ft (1.5 m) long at Eiffel’s fabrication shop, then riveted together on site with 2,500,000 rivets. Why it matters: it turned exposed metal structure into a public monument, with no masonry skin to hide it.

Sagrada Família, Barcelona

The basilica’s official history dates the project to 1882, when the cornerstone was laid to a design by Francisco de Paula del Villar, and says Antoni Gaudí took it over in 1883. The cross went onto the central tower of Jesus Christ on February 20, 2026, finishing its exterior, and the tower was blessed on June 10, 2026, the centenary of Gaudí’s death. At 172.5 m (566 ft), it makes the Sagrada Família the tallest church in the world. Why it matters: Gaudí devoted the last years of his life to it, the basilica says, and the V&A calls him the foremost figure of Spain’s Modernista movement, which took in the Spanish strand of Art Nouveau architecture. It is also still being built, 144 years after the first stone.

The 1930s skyscrapers

Chrysler Building, New York

New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission dates the building to 1928–1930 and credits William Van Alen. His 185 ft (56 m) spire, assembled in secret at the 65th floor, took it to 1,046 ft (319 m) and made it the world’s tallest building when it was completed in 1930. Why it matters: the LPC treats it as a landmark of the Art Deco style. Its dome is clad in Nirosta, a rust-resistant chromium-nickel steel.

Empire State Building, New York

Work began on March 17, 1930, to designs by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, and the building opened on May 1, 1931, after one year and 45 days of construction. The building’s own figures give 1,250 ft (381 m) to its highest occupied floor and 1,454 ft (443 m) to the tip of the antenna. Why it matters: its steel frame rose at about 4½ stories a week, and the building’s own history says it opened as the world’s tallest building and kept that title for about 40 years.

Modernism

Villa Savoye, Poissy

The Fondation Le Corbusier dates the house to 1928–1931 and calls it the clearest illustration of Le Corbusier’s “five points of a modern architecture.” Those are pilotis that lift the house off the ground, a free plan, a free facade, ribbon windows and a roof terrace. Why it matters: it is the textbook modernist house, and almost every white box on stilts since then owes it something.

Fallingwater, Pennsylvania

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation dates the house to 1935, built for Edgar J. and Liliane Kaufmann at Bear Run. Wright added guest quarters in 1938, and the house opened as a museum in 1964. The foundation quotes the American Institute of Architects’ verdict: the “best all-time work of American architecture.” Why it matters: Wright fixed the house to the natural rock with a series of concrete “trays,” letting its sandstone terraces reach out over the stream, so the family lived with the waterfall rather than simply looking at it.

National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo

This is the less familiar pick on the list. The museum’s own page credits the design to Le Corbusier, with Junzo Sakakura, Kunio Maekawa and Takamasa Yoshizaka supervising, and dates its completion to March 1959. In 2016 it was inscribed as a World Heritage Site as part of the Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement. Why it matters: the museum says it was completed as a symbol of renewed diplomatic ties between Japan and France after World War II. The supervision by Sakakura, Maekawa and Yoshizaka also ties it to the story of modern Japanese architecture.

The postwar optimism behind buildings like this also showed up at the roadside, in the coffee shops and gas stations of Googie architecture.

Sydney Opera House, Australia

The Opera House says Danish architect Jørn Utzon designed it. Construction began on March 2, 1959, and it opened in 1973, after Utzon left the project and Peter Hall took over as design architect to complete Stage Three. The breakthrough, according to the Opera House, came when Utzon worked out that the building’s curved forms could be derived from the surface of a sphere, which it counts as a landmark moment for 20th-century design. Why it matters: the Opera House says its sails have become a symbol of both Sydney and modern Australia.

Contemporary icons

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

The museum was built between October 1993 and October 1997 to designs by Frank Gehry. It is clad in about 33,000 thin titanium sheets. Gehry chose CATIA, software first written for the aerospace industry, to turn his curved forms into buildable structure. Why it matters: the museum ranks the building among the boldest architecture of the 20th century and says it is now recognized worldwide as the emblem of Bilbao.

Burj Khalifa, Dubai

SOM designed the tower, completed in 2010. It stands 828 m (2,717 ft) tall, and the Skyscraper Center ranks it the world’s tallest building. SOM explains that its Y-shaped plan reduces wind forces, and each wing, with its own concrete core, buttresses the others through a six-sided central hub while setbacks spiral upward. Why it matters: SOM says that arrangement makes the tower extremely stiff against twisting, one of the strategies it used to build to an unprecedented height.

How tall are the world’s most famous buildings?

Height is the easiest way to compare buildings from very different centuries. The drawing below puts eight of them on one baseline at the same scale.

A few things the drawing makes plain:

• The pyramid held its record for thousands of years. Egypt’s antiquities ministry says it was the world’s tallest structure for about 3,800 years.
• Iron and steel changed the scale. The Eiffel Tower doubled the pyramid’s height in 1889, and New York’s skyscrapers passed it within 41 years.
• The Chrysler Building’s lead was brief. It reached 1,046 ft (319 m) in 1930, and the Empire State Building opened higher in 1931.
• Burj Khalifa is in a class of its own. At 828 m (2,717 ft), it is almost twice the Empire State Building to its antenna tip.

What is the most famous building in the world?

No agency keeps an official ranking, so any answer depends on who is asking. If fame means recognition, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramid are on nearly every published list. If it means influence on other buildings, the Pantheon and Villa Savoye have a stronger claim. The Pantheon’s dome is still the largest unreinforced dome, and the Fondation Le Corbusier calls Villa Savoye the clearest illustration of the five points that shaped modernist houses.

More of these landmarks are collected in our buildings section.