This week’s crazy building is the Makedonium Monument in Krusevo, Macedonia. The bizarre-looking space-age structure was built in the 1970s to commemorate the Ilinden Uprising of 1903. Macedonians revolted against the Ottoman Empire in a fight for independence. Although the uprising ultimately failed, the Ottoman Empire dissolved just a few years later, and eventually the

This week’s crazy building is Johannesburg Water Tower in Johannesburg, South Africa. While South Africa has yet to meet its goal of providing universal access to clean water (enshrined in their Constitution as a human right), great strides have been made in the past decade. Located near the city’s Grand Central Airport, this cone-shaped structure has

This week’s crazy building is Abraj al-Bait in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Also called the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower, the building holds multiple world records. At nearly 1,972 feet, it’s the third tallest building in the world and the tallest clock tower on earth. It also has the largest clock faces—all four are 141 feet across,

Construction on this immense structure began in 1377, but factors such as the Thirty Years’ War, the Reformation and even the discovery of the Americas led to a lull of nearly 300 years in the building process. It wasn’t completed until 1890—over 500 years later! A close call came in December 1944, where most of