{"id":2707,"date":"2026-07-21T11:02:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T11:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/?p=2707"},"modified":"2026-07-21T11:02:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T11:02:59","slug":"6-buildings-that-look-like-something-from-another-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/6-buildings-that-look-like-something-from-another-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Buildings That Look Like Something From Another Planet"},"content":{"rendered":"

You think you’ve seen beautiful buildings? Think again. From a temple carved out of a single rock to a church that looks like it belongs on an alien planet, these six structures are so stunning, so impossible, that you’ll wonder how humans ever built them. Here are the most jaw-dropping buildings on Earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Meenakshi Temple \u2013 Tamil Nadu, India \u2013 The City Of Gods<\/span><\/h2>\n

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This isn’t just a temple \u2013 it’s a psychedelic dreamscape of colour, chaos, and devotion. The Meenakshi Temple complex covers 45 acres and is covered in over 14,000 brightly coloured sculptures of gods, goddesses, and mythical beasts. Every inch of the ceiling is painted, every pillar is carved, every wall tells a story. It’s said that the temple is so vast that it takes hours to walk through it all. The effect is overwhelming \u2013 in the best possible way.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Durham Cathedral \u2013 United Kingdom \u2013 The Norman Marvel<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Durham Cathedral is one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in the world. It was the only English cathedral to survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries completely intact. The ribbed vaulting was a feat of medieval engineering that transformed the way buildings were constructed in Europe. It’s no wonder that many film crews have used it as a location \u2013 it’s breathtakingly beautiful.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hallgr\u00edmskirkja \u2013 Reykjav\u00edk, Iceland \u2013 The Frozen Waterfall<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Hallgr\u00edmskirkja is the tallest church in Iceland, standing at 74.5 metres. Its design is inspired by the basalt columns of the Icelandic landscape, forming a massive concrete expressionist masterpiece that looks like a frozen waterfall. The statue of Leif Erikson in front of the church is a gift from the United States to commemorate the 1930 Althing millennial festival. It’s a building that belongs in a science fiction film \u2013 but it’s real.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Szeged Synagogue \u2013 Hungary \u2013 The Jewel Of The South<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Szeged Synagogue is one of the most beautiful synagogues in the world. Its Moorish Revival style with Byzantine elements is a stunning mix of red and white brick, topped with a 54\u2011metre\u2011tall dome. The building was completed in 1903 and is the fourth largest synagogue in the world. In 2014, its restoration was awarded the Europa Nostra Prize. It’s a masterpiece that proves faith can create beauty.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Gurdwara Sri Hemkund Sahib \u2013 Uttarakhand, India \u2013 The Temple In The Sky<\/span><\/h2>\n

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This is not a building you simply walk into. It sits at an altitude of 15,000 feet, accessible only by a 20\u2011kilometre trek through the Himalayas. The Gurdwara is built on the shores of a glacial lake surrounded by seven snow\u2011capped peaks. It is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism, and the journey to reach it is as spiritual as the destination itself. The setting is so surreal that it feels like a dream.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ellora Caves \u2013 Verul, India \u2013 The Mountain That Was Carved Into A Temple<\/span><\/h2>\n

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The Ellora Caves are not a building \u2013 they are a mountain that was turned into a building. Carved out of a single basalt rock, the Kailasa Temple is the largest monolithic structure in the world, taking over 150 years to complete. The entire temple was carved from the top down, with the sculptors starting at the roof and working their way down to the base, removing over 400,000 tonnes of rock in the process. It is one of the most astonishing architectural achievements in human history.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You think you’ve seen beautiful buildings? Think again. From a temple carved out of a single rock to a church that looks like it belongs on an alien planet, these…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusives","category-photo-vault","category-weird-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2715,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707\/revisions\/2715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}