African Wonders

Pyramids at Giza- The pyramids have been standing in the heart of Egypt for 4600 years. The 3 pyramids were built by Egyptian kings Cheops, Khafre, and Menkaure from the 4th dynasty. Even though it was built such a long time ago,the pyramids are a highly advanced piece of work. It's amazing to note that it was the tallest structure on earth for 43 centuries. The pyramid itself is a wonder; the angles on each side are exactly 51 degrees and the measurements are unerring. There are about 2 million blocks of stones used to build the pyramid and some suggest that from all of the blocks from 3 different pyramids, a 10 ft high, 1 ft thick wall can be built around France.

Temples of Abu Simbel- These temples were built between 1290 and 1224 B.C. by Pharaoh Ramses II.There are 2 temples and these were built to dedicate Egyptians gods. There are statues built outside the temples, inside the temples, on the walls of the hallways, and in different chambers. The interesting fact about one of these works is that on every February 22 and October 22 at sunrise, the light illuminates the faces of the figures. The temples are highly treasured that when a construction of reservoir for the Aswan High Dam threatened the temples, an international team spent 40 million dollars and more than 4 years of hard work to reassemble it on a higher platform.

Christian art- Ethiopian artists produced many paintings of extraordinary beauty. They have a number of distinctive styles. They incorporated elements from Western Europe and India. It's odd to see that the Ethiopian artists put no emphasis on the skin color of the saints they drew. Having different skin colors mean a lot and depending on your skin color, your life is very different from another person's life with a different skin color. Also one would think that their pictures would be about the Islam religion, but it's bizarre to see some of there masterpieces were of the Christian religion.

I believe that we don't get to hear of these wonders of Africa because these wonders are from the distant history and it gets shadowed by the negative things that are going on in Africa. Even though these are some great things, these wonders are thousands of years old. With the world today, people are more interested about the present and the future rather than the past. Now, Africa is going through major problems that attract all the attention. The public hears about how Aids is spreading and children are used in wars and this is all the media has to say about Africa.