The longest wall in the world. The most famous walls in the world The longest wall

Some great walls have been built in modern times, others have been demolished for political reasons. All of them were created with one goal - to protect themselves from attacks and raids of enemies, protect their territories and reduce conflicts. In this collection, you will learn about which structures of this type are the most famous and unusual.

Walls have been built by people all over the world since time immemorial. Some ancient, very strong structures have survived to this day, for example, the great walls of India, China and Ancient Rome.

The most famous wall in the world, the Great Wall of China, is a cult landmark of China and is known to almost everyone. That's where we'll start this review.

1. Great Wall of China (China)

Length: 8851.8 km

Width: 5.5 m

Height: 9 m (average)

The Great Wall of China is said to be the only man-made structure visible from space to the naked eye. And although in fact it is not visible from space, it is difficult to deny its greatness.

Starting from the 7th century BC at the northern borders Ancient China construction began on a series of massive fortifications. These fortifications were supposed to protect China from the attacks of the northern peoples. The walls stretch for thousands of kilometers and are mostly interconnected.

In the centuries that followed, walls and thousands of supporting structures were built in the mountains, deserts, and rivers. As a result, the total length was about 20 thousand kilometers, but since then a lot of water has flowed, and about 9 thousand kilometers of the wall have come down to us.

Parts of the wall near major cities are well preserved, but parts far from civilization have been badly damaged over time due to natural phenomena.

2. Great Wall Kumbhalgarh (India)

Length: 36 km

Width: up to 4.5 meters

Kumbhalgarh, the second longest ancient wall on the planet, located in the state of Rajasthan in western India. The construction of this long wall began during the reign of Rana Kumbha in 1143.

The construction of the structure took more than 100 years, and in the 19th century the wall was further enlarged. Today it is a museum complex.

The wall protects the fertile lands. Inside this area is a high fortress built on a hill: it rises a thousand meters above sea level. The wall has seven gates. Also in the area surrounded by the wall is located a large number of beautiful temples.

Legend has it that the construction of the wall was not without casualties. Rana Kumbha tried several times to build a wall, but his attempts were not crowned with success, and the building fell.

Then his spiritual master said to him that the wall will not stand until someone sacrifices himself for the success of the building. One pilgrim volunteered to sacrifice himself. It is believed that the main gate of the wall was built on the very spot where this wanderer was buried.

3. Hadrian's Wall (Great Britain)

Length: 120 km

Width: 2.5-3m

Height: 4.5 m

Emperor Hadrian of Rome took the throne in 117 AD. Coins and various buildings that have come down to us serve as a reminder of his reign. One of the most famous buildings of Hadrian's time is the wall that crosses Britain at the border of England and Scotland, which was called Hadrian's Wall.

The construction of Hadrian's Wall began in 122 AD. The purpose of this building is to protect the Roman territories of Britain from attacks by enemies - the Picts who lived on the territory of modern Scotland. Until the 15th century, the wall served as a kind of border separating the northern regions from the Roman Empire.

The wall stretches from the North Sea to the Irish (from the fortress of Sigidunum on the River Tyne to the Solway Firth). In addition to the wall, the Romans built a system of small fortifications that could accommodate garrisons of 60 soldiers. These fortifications were at a distance of 1 Roman mile from each other (about 2 km). There were 16 larger fortifications, they could accommodate from 500 to 1000 soldiers.

Length: 7 km (5.5 km preserved)

The city of Ston in Croatia is protected by a wall that was built in the 15th century when the area was fighting for independence from the Ottoman Empire. The wall slowly collapsed and was badly damaged during the earthquake of 1996, however, thanks to the restoration work, it survived.

Initially, the wall was well fortified with 40 towers, of which 30 were square and 10 were round. Apart from the fact that this wall served as a defense for the city of Dubrovnik, it was also built to protect a valuable commodity at that time - salt. In the Middle Ages, this area became the center for the extraction of this mineral.

5. Israeli Separation Barrier - The Great Wall of Israel (Israel)

Length: 703 km

Height: up to 8 m

And this is a modern building. The separation wall was built by Israel along the west bank of the Jordan River. The main task this wall is to protect Israeli territories and border villages from Palestinian terrorists. The wall was also erected to keep the Arab population from mixing with the Jews.

Construction of the barrier began in 2003, when Ariel Sharon was prime minister of Israel. The barrier is not a wall throughout its entire length, in some places it is just metal fence with barbed wire and motion sensors. Only 25 kilometers of the barrier near Jerusalem are reinforced concrete wall, whose height is 8 meters.

The construction of the wall has reduced the number of terrorist attacks by half, according to official statistics. The Palestinians were extremely unhappy with the construction of the wall. Contacts between Israelis and Palestinians have been significantly reduced, from which the Palestinian economy has suffered a lot.

6. Berlin Wall (Germany)

Length: 106 km

Height: 3.6 m

The Berlin Wall is a non-existent but very famous building that physically separated West and East Germany before unification. The wall was the symbolic boundary between democracy and communism during the Cold War.

Erected in 1961, it existed for 28 years, after which it was demolished, although part of it was left as a historical monument. Residents of East Berlin from the GDR could not just get into the western part, they needed special permission.

There were many attempts of illegal crossing. According to the official statistics of "victims of the wall" who were killed while trying to cross the border without permission, there were 125 people, but unofficial data claims that there were more than a thousand.

7. Walls of Constantinople (Türkiye)

Length: 5.6 km

The walls of Constantinople are a series of protective stone walls that were erected to protect Constantinople (now the city is called Istanbul), at that time the capital of the Roman Empire.

The wall was erected in the 5th century AD. Over the centuries, the wall has undergone many additions and modifications, it was the greatest last fortification system of antiquity and one of the most complex and well thought out systems ever built.

The main task of the wall surrounding the city was to protect it from enemy attacks from land and sea. The wall remained virtually untouched during Ottoman times until some of its sections were demolished in the 19th century as the city began to grow. Part of the wall has been preserved thanks to restoration work in the 20th century.

The surviving sections are often called Theodosian Walls, as they were built during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II.

8. City walls of Conwy (Great Britain, Wales)

Length: 1.3 km

The city of Conwy, located in the northern part of Wales, was surrounded by a medieval wall that has survived to this day. The wall was built between 1283 and 1287 after the founding of Conwy by King Edward I.

The main attraction of these places is the medieval castle of Conwy, which is located on the shore. The construction of the wall required the strength of a huge number of workers who arrived from England, and the construction was estimated at 15 thousand pounds sterling. For that time it was a gigantic amount.

Today the Conwy Wall is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

9. Sacsayhuaman (Cusco, Peru)

This is the name of the ceremonial complex in Cusco, erected, according to legend, by the first Inca, Manco Capac.

The complex is located on the northern outskirts of Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire. Like many other Inca structures, the complex is made of large polished stone blocks, with boulders carefully fitted together without any cementing mortar. The site is located at an altitude of 3,701 meters and was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1983 as part of the city of Cusco.

10. Wailing Wall (Jerusalem, Israel)

The Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in AD 70 by the Roman emperor Titus and the Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, has survived to this day. It is not directly the wall of the Temple, but is the remains of the supporting structures of Herod the Great to strengthen the Temple Mount.

The prophet Jeremiah predicted that the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed, but its western wall would remain. And although the Wailing Wall is not the wall of the Temple, it is the closest to it and therefore has become the greatest shrine of the Jewish people.

It got its name because the Jews mourn here the First and Second Temples, both destroyed on the same day, but in different years.

The length of the entire Western Wall is 488 meters. The walls rise to a height of 15 meters, and another part of the wall is under the ground.

For greater efficiency each new row of stones was set with a ledge inward, and therefore the wall is slightly inclined.

Herod the Great had to go to the trick not to ask permission from Rome for such a construction. He sent a messenger to Rome for permission, knowing that it would take a long time, and he himself began construction. When the messenger returned from Rome, the construction was completed, and in the response letter of Octavian Augustus it was written: “If you have not begun to build, then do not build. If you start, destroy it. If you're done, leave it as it is."

After the War of Independence in 1948, the Temple Mount came under the control of Jordan, and until 1967 Jews were not allowed to the Wailing Wall. During the Six Day War, Israeli troops occupied Old city and prayers at the Wailing Wall resumed.

A lot is connected with the Wailing Wall modern traditions. Here, soldiers of the selected military units of the Israel Defense Forces take the oath, many boys who have reached the age of 13 (bar mitzvah) are called here for the first time to read the Torah, on Israel's Independence Day and on Jerusalem's Liberation Day, solemn events are held at the Wall.

11. Wall of Troy (Türkiye)

Troy is an ancient fortified settlement in Asia Minor near the coast of the Aegean Sea, not far from the entrance to the Dardanelles. Today, sections of the wall that surrounded the city have been preserved.

Everyone more or less knows about this ancient city. educated person- it is about him that is told in Homer's poem "Iliad". This is one of the oldest walls still preserved to this day. The wall of Troy was built in the 13th century BC to protect the legendary city. This wall resisted the famous 10-year siege of Troy.

12. Great Wall of Zimbabwe (Africa)

Great Zimbabwe is a medieval city in southern Africa, in which the Great Wall of an elliptical shape is located, about 100 m in diameter and 255 m in circumference.

It is the oldest building in sub-Saharan Africa. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe during the Late Iron Age. The city was surrounded by these walls.

13. Babylonian walls (Iraq)

Ancient Babylon is located in Mesopotamia, about 85 km south of Baghdad.

Once it was completely surrounded by these walls. Their origin goes back to 575 BC and the Ishtar Gate is considered one of the wonders of the world. ancient world because of its magnificence.

The Babylonian Walls of Babylon are counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

14. Wall of the Forbidden City (Beijing)

The famous building of Beijing is the Forbidden City and its wall with nine dragons.

The Forbidden City in Beijing is the world's largest palace complex, with an area of ​​720,000 m2. In plan, it is a slightly elongated square (the length of the northern and southern walls is 753 meters, the western and eastern walls are 961 meters), almost correctly oriented to the cardinal points.

The Forbidden City is surrounded by high walls and a moat. The walls of the Forbidden City are one of its main attractions.

15. Vietnam Veterans Memorial (USA)

The National Memorial is located in Washington, DC.

It commemorates members of the US military who fought in Vietnam, members of the military who died in service in Vietnam, and those who went missing during that war.

This wall is a monument to the courage and heroism of ordinary American citizens who died in Vietnam. More than 58 thousand names are carved on it.

And a few more modern dividing walls, built today specifically to separate the warring parties.

16. Belfast Peace Line (Northern Ireland)

This wall reaches a height of 6 meters and was created specifically to separate the Catholic and Protestant communities of Belfast from each other.

17. Green Line (Cyprus)

This wall divides the island into two sectors.

Don't be surprised by her somewhat unusual look. In fact, it was built from huge painted oil containers.

18. Ecobarrier (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Built in 2009 concrete wall in Rio de Janeiro surrounds the Donna Marta slum quarter. Its official purpose is to protect local trees, but many also see it as a barrier to the city's poorest people.

And finally, two more unusual walls.

19. Lennon Wall (Prague, Czech Republic)

The inscriptions on it began to appear immediately after the tragic death of John Lennon, the famous musician from the legendary Beatles four.

There is even a legend that a true Lennon fan will definitely find John's autograph on this wall. Beatles fans from all over the world come to John Lennon's wall.

20. Gum wall (Seattle, USA)

This very unusual wall appeared back in the early 1990s of the last century, when people, standing in line for a ticket to the cinema, molded chewing gum directly onto the wall.

Now, no matter how ridiculous it may sound, but this is one of the attractions of the city.

"Construction Rules", No. 48/1, October 2014

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18.12.16 12:17

In mid-December, the historical drama The Great Wall was released, in which the heroes of Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal come to the aid of Asian warriors. We decided to dedicate a photo selection of famous walls in the world to this event. Someone is very fond of the Tsoi memorial wall in St. Petersburg, near Kamchatka, where a rock musician once worked, and someone is packing things for Jerusalem to ask God for help at the most famous wall in the world.

Walls were invented by our ancestors as a means of protection from enemies or animals. Today, the famous walls have become something more - let's admire!

They were protection - they became architectural monuments: the famous walls of the planet

The walls of Babylon are in Iraq, their gates are in the capital of Germany

A city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, vibrant and bustling Babylon flourished in the 570s BC. It was then that he was surrounded by walls - high and strong - by order of King Nebuchadnezzar. Now it is the territory of modern Iraq (about 85 km south of Baghdad).

The walls of Babylon are gradually being restored, and their main treasure - the gates of the goddess Ishtar - are stored in the Pergamon Museum (Berlin). The blue glazed tiles look like new, and the bas-reliefs of dragons and bulls still sparkle on them.

Another popular historical attraction, the famous walls of Troy, are located in northwestern Turkey. This is one of the most the oldest walls that have come down to our days. They became available for viewing thanks to archaeologists. The walls of the legendary Troy were built in the 13th century BC and remind us of the ten-year siege that the city was subjected to, and which was described by Homer.

In the Turkish city of Dyyarbakir

But at the opposite end of Turkey (in the southeast) there are other famous walls - made of black basalt in the 9th century. Now they are the highlight of the city of Diyarbakir: they stretch right in the middle of modern buildings for 5.4 km - in the form of a circle. The walls are complicated brickwork, this complex includes four gates, barracks, warehouses and 82 watchtowers.

Puma teeth: the walls of the Sacsayhuaman fortress in Peru

The city of Cusco in Peru was once the capital of the Inca Empire. Not far from it is the world-famous monument of antiquity Machu Picchu (a comfortable sightseeing train runs there from the city). And in Cuzco itself (on its northern outskirts), huge walls of the Sacsayhuaman fortress, built of well-polished stones, rise. Three parallel walls are strong and do not have a single gap - even a thin sheet of paper cannot fit between the boulders. This place is protected by UNESCO. An interesting detail: Cuzco was built in the form of a puma, the citadel was built on the hills and personified the head of a predator, its zigzag walls symbolized teeth.

Walls of Greater Zimbabwe in modern Zimbabwe

Some of the most famous walls in the world (and the largest man-made structure south of the Sahara Desert) are those of Great Zimbabwe, the old city that was once the capital of a kingdom. These defensive lines were erected during the late Iron Age, and are now well preserved. Inside the perimeter are ruins, all that remains of the city abandoned by the inhabitants in the 19th century. Great Zimbabwe is located in the state of Zimbabwe in the province of Masvingo.

Walls of the city of Ston in Croatia: against the backdrop of a picturesque landscape

Europe has its famous walls, among which are the walls of the city of Ston on the Pelješac peninsula (south of Croatia). They were built at the narrowest point of the peninsula as a second line of defense for the city of Dubrovnik (and the Republic of Dubrovnik) in the 15th century. The walls protected the precious salt lakes, which brought considerable income to the treasury. Now the walls are surrounded by a picturesque landscape and border a hill overgrown with forest.

Border between Scotland and England: Hadrian's Wall

At the beginning of the 2nd century AD, the Romans began the construction of Hadrian's Wall, which was supposed to prevent the raids of the Scottish tribes on their colonies (the territory of modern Great Britain). The time-worn wall stretches from the Irish Sea to the North Sea and is a kind of border between England and Scotland. It is the longest wall in Europe and an important tourist attraction.

Child of the Cold War Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall was created for political reasons at the height of the Cold War in 1961, dividing the city into two zones - east and west. The pro-Soviet authorities thus tried to stop the East Germans from escaping to the West. The barrier proved to be effective, although there were always daredevils who dared to overcome the wall, some died on the way to freedom. In total, there are a little more than five thousand people who were able to climb over the "border". In 1989, the most famous wall of the European continent fell, parts of it were left as a historical monument, and now it is decorated with bright graffiti.

The main shrine of the Jews: the Western Wall in Jerusalem

The Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall, is located in Jerusalem in the heart of the Old City. This is one of the main Israeli shrines and, of course, the most famous wall in the world. Half of the Wall (below street level) was built in antiquity - in the 19th century BC (the end of the Second Temple period), scientists suggest that this is the surviving part of the Temple Mount wall. The upper part of the Western Wall was completed already in our era after the destruction of the temple. In numerous crevices of the Wall, pilgrims leave notes - requests to the Almighty.

The most famous wall stretched for many thousands of kilometers

The most famous wall of the planet, allegedly visible from the moon, is the Great Chinese Wall included in the seven modern wonders Sveta. About the Moon - this, of course, is a lie. But from the orbit of the Earth, the wall is visible. It was built between the 3rd century BC and the 17th century (when new sections and structures were added to the wall) to protect the Empire from northern tribes. The wall is protected by UNESCO and is considered the largest architectural monument: its length is more than 8.8 thousand km (according to other sources - more than 21 thousand km), if all segments and branches are counted.

The Great Wall of China is the longest structure on Earth and the largest fortification in the world.

In Chinese, the wall is called Wanli Changcheng, which is usually translated as "ten thousand li long wall" (li is a measure of length, about 500 m). However, "wanli" means not only "ten thousand", but also an indefinite "very many". That is, the name can be translated as "a very long wall."

Geography
the great Wall of China

Conventions
--- Surviving sites

1 SHANHAIGUAN also called "The first passage in the Middle Kingdom." The outpost protected the passage from Manchuria.

2 JUYUNGUAN- the nearest passage to Beijing. Inside the outpost is the "Cloud Platform" (Yuntai), its height is 9.5 m. It is decorated with images of the Buddha and Buddhist inscriptions in six languages.

3 JIAYYUGUAN- an important point on the Great Silk Road. On the Western Gate there is an inscription: "Be kind to distant countries" - this is a parting word to those leaving the country. On the Eastern Gate is written: "Gate to the Brilliant Civilization" - with such a statement about themselves, the Chinese welcomed incoming strangers.

4 YUMENGUAN- the westernmost point of the Great Wall. Caravans of the Great Silk Road passed through this outpost.

Photo: Corbis / All Over Press, NASA'S Earth Observatory

You might think that this is a frame of some kind of futuristic-sci-fi movie about the future? Oh no ... this is quite a real building, which has the highest blank wall in the world.

Let's find out more about it...

New York is known for its skyscrapers. Every year, crowds of tourists flock here to look at the city from a bird's eye view. But there is one building with a height of 29 floors, in which there is not a single window.

At 33 Thomas Street is the AT&T Long Lines Building, built in 1974. This is a vivid example of brutality in architecture - no windows, just bare gray concrete that is not too pleasant to look at.

Architect: John Carl Warnecke. The height of the building is 170 meters
Photo 3.

The main purpose of the building was to house telephone equipment. The average floor height is 5.5 meters, which is much higher than in a conventional high-rise building. The floors here are incredibly strong - they can withstand 90-140 kg per square cm. (Corrected! there were meters :-))
Photo 4.

There are six large air ducts on the tenth and 29th floors - these are the only openings leading outside. Many consider the AT&T Long Lines Building to be one of the safest buildings in the world, capable of saving those inside from radioactive fallout for another two weeks after a nuclear explosion. It is also known as the highest blank wall in the world. This is such an unusual tourist attraction.

Surprisingly, the ascetic appearance of the AT&T Long Lines Building met with understanding and sympathy from New York art critics. The New York Times wrote about the appropriateness of the location of this object in Manhattan, emphasizing its high aesthetic qualities along the way. One of America's leading architectural analysts, William H. White, proudly noted that the AT&T Long Lines Building has the tallest blank wall in the world.
Such a positive attitude towards this skyscraper seems surprising, if we remember that Manhattan is traditionally a platform for the demonstration of new architectural structures, surrounded by which the AT&T Long Lines Building looks like a puritan, accidentally found himself among the festively dressed aristocrats; nevertheless, it was he who, in the end, turned out to be the center of this brilliant company ...

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The minimalism inherent in the AT&T Long Lines Building brings to mind another minimalist project of brutalist architecture that also appeared in 1974 - the city courthouse in Buffalo.
The aesthetic principles present in the building of the city court in the Warnecke skyscraper have been further developed, primarily due to the scale of the project. Both buildings strive to create the effect of monumentalism, and any monumentalism needs an appropriate scale. - The high height itself contributes to the emergence of "monumentalist effects". And where there is a sense of monumentality, a sense of strength and power will inevitably manifest itself.
The AT&T Long Lines Building is more than 2.5 times the size of the Buffalo Building; and while the courthouse aesthetic is more consistent, the Manhattan Project benefits from its size.
Photo 7.

In the depths of monumentalism, tanative elements are inevitably present. – Monumentalism, first of all, is associated with the external aspects of the life of reality – the same idea of ​​strength, in particular, is demonstrated by monumentalism through external, quantitative methods. - And such an emphasis on the external aspects of reality indicates an essential lack of internal content. – The inner reality of monumentalism is saturated with emptiness, and emptiness is an initially tanative element of reality.
Accordingly, the more powerful monumentalism asserts itself, the more powerful the tanative content associated with it acquires. “And the AT&T Long Lines Building demonstrates this pattern to the fullest.

Photo 8.

Despite the fact that the cladding of the building is light, it nevertheless makes a very gloomy impression; along with the idea of ​​power, this object transmits negative psychological content - an increased degree of anxiety and depression. As a result, his image is shifted to the "demonic dimension", infernalized.
AT & T Long Lines Building is consistent with the images of architecture that appear in films of American cinema dedicated to the theme of the future; more precisely, the building built by Warnecke corresponds to those segments of the future that represent destructive contents, acting as "evil empires", whose fate, according to most Hollywood scenarios, is to die in the battle with Good.
Photo 9.

And the same ventilation windows, encircling the body of the building, in perception lose their connection with any rational function, acquiring the character of symbols pointing to something infernal and, at the same time, esoteric ...
Perhaps the AT&T Long Lines Building has demonstrated the result that can be considered inevitable in cases where brutalist minimalism takes on large-scale, monumental forms. – The idea of ​​power, acquiring scale, becomes a strong translator of tanativeness.

Photo 10.

The AT&T Long Lines Building could only appear in a certain public atmosphere. - The function of the building makes us pay attention, first of all, to the foreign policy factor that negatively affects the life of society. But the connection between the aesthetics of the AT&T Long Lines Building and the theme of the Cold War, officially declared, does not look, nevertheless, certainly obvious. On the contrary, by the beginning of the 1970s, the threat of nuclear war had significantly decreased compared to the previous decade, and the world was going through a period of "détente".
Rather, the aesthetics of this building may be related to the internal political factor; The 1970s are a time when depressive notes dominate public sentiment, and this is due to the fact that the wave of the new left, which made itself so powerful in the 1960s, is clearly in decline. – This depresses both the left, which realizes that the counterculture project has ended in failure, and the right, which is struck by the fragility of “social foundations” and does not have projects at its disposal that can strengthen these foundations. - The theme of nuclear war in this context becomes an external, sublimative channel capable of projecting the inner content of life onto the external environment. – The world is the way we want to see it; The AT&T Long Lines Building is a symbol of tanative desire projected into the reality of material, frozen forms.

Photo 11.

It is significant that for forty years there has been no voice in the United States questioning the need for the existence of this facility in Manhattan, and this is when criticism of brutalism often turned into a “norm of decency”. This fact can be interpreted as a sign that Thanatos maintained his very strong position in the public consciousness of America during all this time.

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And here for comparison:

The Buffalo City Court Building in Buffalo is an example of the most consistent implementation of the principles of brutalist aesthetics in the construction of skyscrapers. The building was designed by Pfohl, Roberts and Biggie. The project was developed in 1971 and implemented in 1974.
The Buffalo City Court still operates in this building today.

When looking at this object, two of its features immediately catch the eye - monumentality and extreme closeness. We can say that in this case, the presence of the second feature contributes to the actualization of the first.
From a distance, the city court seems like a concrete structure, in which there are no windows in principle; upon closer examination, windows are found, but they occupy an extremely small place on the total area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe facades. The creators of the project associated this feature of their brainchild with its social function: the absence of windows creates a sense of isolation of the internal space of the building from the outside world, and this allows the judges working here not to feel pressure "from outside". – I don’t know how free local judges really feel from the influence of external circumstances, but it seems that the city justice works for absolutely behind closed doors; accordingly, the decisions they make also seem somewhat irrational: the impenetrability of the walls gives rise to the impression of the impenetrability of the motives on the basis of which the decision is made. - Such impressions may well evoke associations with Franz Kafka's "Castle". – In both cases, the architectural object turns out to be a symbol of something irrational. But, on the other hand, the presence of an irrational phenomenon in real space is not in itself an unambiguously “bad” or unambiguously “good” fact; estimates in this case are the result of exclusively subjective arbitrariness. (And negative assessments of the same “Castle” are just a stamp of perception; “Castle” itself is axiologically neutral. Its essence can also be justified in a positive context. It is significant in this regard that Kafka himself avoided unambiguous judgments on this question.)
The irrational, manifested in the image of The Buffalo City Court Building, has obvious power; it is the "strong irrational." And, in this case, it does not spoil it.

The irrational, which has power, has every opportunity to acquire the status of "sacred" in public perception. - The modern secular state needs sacred foundations no less than the great empires of the past; power as a whole has sacred grounds. And, I suppose, the situation in which the status of “sacred” begins to correspond to the “territory of the law” is much better than the situation in which some kind of Extraordinary Commission begins to have the status of sacredness ...

Through its display of power, The Buffalo City Court Building opens up its own aesthetic dimension. It must be admitted that this object is beautiful in its own way.
But " force field» of reality initially puts the sphere of the aesthetic under the sign of relativity, i.e. endows real-life aesthetic objects with the character of imperfection. - There is no such force that could not be surpassed; accordingly, an object demonstrating "strength" qualities can always be mentally improved, perfected. - In other words, if two more floors were added to the ten floors of The Buffalo City Court Building, this building would definitely not become worse; but what prevents you from adding five or ten more floors to twelve? – The larger the aesthetic object that expresses the idea of ​​power, the more perfect it is. And the essential limits for the growth of scale do not exist in principle. The motto “Higher, higher, and higher!” is quite appropriate here. And space, as you know, tends to infinity ...