A collective of European architects has proposed to build a 21st-century version of the Colossus of Rhodes, the ancient Greek statue erected on the island of Rhodes in the 3rd century B.C. The new statue would stand 500-feet tall and serve as a cultural center as well as a lighthouse.
One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Colossus of Rhodes was a 100-foot bronze statue of Helios, the Greek titan-god of the sun. It was constructed in 280 B.C. to celebrate a military victory over Antigonus I Monophthalmus, the ruler of Cyprus who unsuccessfully besieged Rhodes in 305 B.C. The Colossus stood as one of the tallest structures of the ancient world until an earthquake brought it crashing down in 226 B.C.
Now, a group of architects, civil engineers, and archeologists from around Europe want to build a modern version of the statue, five times taller than the original. The project website describes “a contemporary 150-meters-tall building which would be used as a cultural center, as a library, an exhibition hall and a lighthouse.” FULL REPORT
