Every monument has an exciting history behind it. Monuments always remind us about the history of something. But, when it comes to the story of love, it becomes much more enjoyable. Love is the feeling which helps us to live and sometimes even survives. The living structures showing a pure form of love. Let’s see the top 10 most popular monuments of love in the world. Each of these has a fantastic story.
10 Mirabell Palace and Gardens, Austria
Prince-archbishop Wolf Dietrich built Mirabell Palace in 1607 for his beloved Salome Alt. She had 15 children, though only five survived. After the Prince-Archbishop’s death, the archbishop Franz Anton von Harrach made many changes to this palace. Among them, he also changed its name to Mirabell.
This lovely Mirabell Palace includes Roman gods statues, a hedge theater, gardens that admire the charming flower beds, Pegasus fountain, Grand Fountain, Orangery, and garden of baroque marble dwarfs.
Everyone considered its Marble Hall as one of the most beautiful wedding halls in the world. Fire extensively damaged it in 1818. We can see this palace now in the Baroque style. Today, people used it for the most romantic weddings that we could imagine.
9 Petit Trianon, France
Petit Trianon in the Marie Antoinette estate in the park of Versailles Palace, France.
King Louis XV built this lovely chateau between 1762 and 1768. He wanted to gift this chateau to his mistress Madame de Pampadour. Anges-Jacques Gabriel designed the palace. Unfortunately, she died just before the completion of Petit Trianon.
After that, he gave it as a gift to his 19-year-old Queen Marie Antoinette. She used it as her secret getaway. During the French Revolution, it presented as a hostel, before none other than Napoleon had this palace restored for his sister, Pauline.
Empress Eugenie converted this Petit Trianon into a museum in 1867 and dedicated to the life and memory of Marie-Antoinette. It also continues to celebrate that function to this day. Its gardens are extensive and varied. King Louis XV built it in Greek style fashion. The elegant woodwork also makes it more attractive.
8 Thornewood Castle, Washington
Chester Thorne wanted to give the very best for his overwhelming wife, Anna. So he constructed the castle using pieces from England’s 400-year-old Elizabethan manor. He dismantled and shipped it to the U.S., piece by piece, and included it in the stunning Gothic Tudor mansion.
Thorne and Anna worked together to design and to decorate the manor. So people often called the Thornewood Castle ‘the house that love built.’ This castle took over four years to complete. It is occupying over 20,000 square feet. A very famous architect, Kirkland Cutter, designed the manor.
Its gardens are the most beautiful. Moreover, we can see the rare artwork of interiors and exquisite interiors. It is one of the most popular love monuments globally, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
7 Dobroyd Castle, England
This castle is also the foremost testimony of love between two people, John Fielden and Ruth Stansfield. According to a legend, John Fielden, the son of a wealthy mill owner, fell in love with a weaver girl. When John asked her to marry him, Ruth said yes, but only on the stipulation to build a castle for her.
After completing the construction, it had 66 luxurious rooms, four small turrets, stables for 17 horses, and a central tower. John sent her to finishing school in Switzerland to improve education and learn social etiquette.
Unfortunately, even after the marriage, their relationship fizzled out. Ruth Stansfield spiraled into alcoholism, eventually passing away. Horse crippled John, remarried soon after that, and stayed here until he died in 1893. It acts as a Buddhist center, a boys’ school, etc.
6 Coral Castle, Florida
Edward Leedskalnin made this impressive castle for his 16-year old fiancee, Agnes Skuvst. She left him a day before their wedding. Then heartbroken, Edward planned to begin creating a monument to his unrequited love. He spent more than twenty-eight years building this castle.
This single man alone made this entire thing. We can’t imagine how he created such a structure alone because he stood only about five feet tall and weighed around 100 pounds. Additionally, he usually worked only at night to maintain privacy.
This castle also contains towers, fountains, ornate furniture, and sculptures. Undoubtedly, he was the King of his castle. He sculpted over 1100 tons of coral using essential tools and a series of pulleys and levers to form the castle.
5 Kellie’s Castle, Malaysia
Kellie’s castle is also one of the most popular monuments of love in the world, situated in Batu Gajah, Kinta District, Malaysia. Kellie’s castle combines romance, tragedy, and mystery. Scottish planter William Kellie Smith built Malaysia’s oldest castle for his beloved wife, Agnes Smith. This beautiful castle takes influences from Greco-Roman, Indian, and Moorish styles.
Legend says a break of a flu epidemic during the castle’s construction that killed many construction workers and halted the building work. To appease the Hindu workers to restart, Smith created a Hindu temple near his palace. However, plans for further construction of the castle came to a stop in 1926 after Kellie Smith died unexpectedly from pneumonia. Then the government acquired it.
He also planned to build a 6-story tower, a rooftop courtyard for entertaining, and an indoor tennis court. We can see the first elevator of Malaysia in Kellie’s Castle. Some people believed and visited William’s spirit pacing in the 2nd-floor corridor at night. Agnes left the country with her children back to Scotland.
4 Prasat Hin Phimai in Phimai, Thailand
View of the historic Prasat Hin Phimai Castle at Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand. Prasat Hin Phimai bestows the mysterious and enduring love and tragedy. This legendary story begins with when Pajitt’s father wanted his son to take a wife.
According to the legend, Prince Pajitt traveled the countryside for months in search of his ideal wife. Then he chanced upon to meet a pretty light-skinned pregnant lady. He fell in love with her.
Pajitt considered her as his life partner. But he could not marry a widow. Therefore, he decided to marry her unborn child, Orapima, when she reached 16. As Orapima grew, they fell deeply in love with each other. Once they rested in the forest, a woodsman killed Pajitt and stole her. Orapima killed that woodsman and returned to Phimai, where she constructed a sanctuary called Prasat Hin Phimai.
Disheartened, Orapima prayed for her true love and the reincarnation of her soulmate’s spirit. Orapima built, painted, and sculpted Prasat Hin Phimai with scenes from her life with Pajitt. One day, a young man saw Orapima’s handiwork, and that brought him before her. Then she realized he was the Pajitt’s spirit. So she finally married him, and they lived happily ever after.
3 Kodai-Ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan
Kita-no-Mandokoro established the ornate structure in memory of her soulmate husband, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in 1606. He died in 1598. She later became a priestess at the temple and assumed the name Kodaiin Kogetsuni. She later stayed at the temple as a priestess and took Kodaiin Kogetsuni as her name.
This temple got its name from her. She remained here until she died in 1624. The temple consists of a beautiful garden, Main Gate, Spirit Hall, paintings. It also holds a sanctuary with shrines, known as the Otama-ya. It is also one of the most popular monuments of love in the world.
Series of fires destroyed much of the Kodaiji complex in 1789. The only buildings to survive were Otama-ya, Kaisan-do, Kasa-tei, and Shigure-tei, and Kangetsu-dai. Japan designated the original buildings as Important Cultural Properties.
2 Boldt Castle, New York
George C. Boldt built this castle in 1900 as a token of love for his wife, Louise Kehrer Boldt. It took four years for construction, and he spent millions of dollars on that. One of the world’s most popular love monuments lies on Heart Island in the U.S. Thousand Islands.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Boldt died unexpectedly just months before the six-story castle completion. So, he was inconsolable and stopped all the construction. He was leaving the property vacant for more than seventy years. Over 300 stonemasons, carpenters and artists designed this castle and built this magnificent art piece.
Later, the state government bought the Boldt Castle and reconstructed it. The castle also has Italian gardens, tunnel systems, and a drawbridge. Thousand Islands Bridge Authority restored and improved upon this building using the funds earned from the tour to its intended glory.
Related Articles
Top 10 Most Amazing Man Made Wonders
Top 10 Most Popular Man Made Arches In The World
Top 10 Oldest Extant Freestanding Buildings In The World
1 Taj Mahal, Agra, India
This list cannot complete without the ultimate symbol of love, the Taj Mahal. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built this white marble Taj Mahal in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The famous Indian landmark, Taj Mahal, attracts more than a million tourists each year.
Changes in the mausoleum’s hues show the Emperor’s wife’s changing moods at different times of the day. We can see a pinkish hue in the morning, golden at night, and milky white in the evening. It is also one of the world news seven wonders, situated in Agra, a city in Uttar Pradesh, India. Taj Mahal construction took 20 years to finish this mausoleum.
A whopping 22,000 laborers, stonecutters, painters, embroidery artists built this famous mausoleum. Taj Mahal architecture is a combination of Persian, Islamic, and Indian styles. Both Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, buried inside the plain crypt beneath its main inner chamber.
