Hundreds of centuries in a few seconds: what the restoration of ancient ruins looks like in gifs

Ancient ruins give people a unique opportunity to look into the past and find out how our ancestors lived and what houses they built. Historians, architects and travelers alike admire the remnants of long-forgotten times. However, due to the state in which these buildings have come down to us, it is often difficult to imagine what these once majestic structures looked like when life was boiling in them, conversations were heard and footsteps were heard, and somewhere there was a smell from the kitchen.

The Expedia project has resurrected seven ancient buildings in a series of gifs. In a few seconds, high walls rise up in place of the usual ruins, ceilings and roofs appear, and we finally see what the ancient buildings looked like at the peak of their existence.

Parthenon, Athens

The main temple of the ancient city was built in 447-438 BC on the Athenian Acropolis and dedicated to the goddess Athena.

Temple of Jupiter, Pompeii

The temple was built in honor of the god Jupiter in the II century BC and, most likely, was the center of the religious life of the ancient city of Pompeii — a small Roman city in the Bay of Naples. In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius destroyed the city along with all the inhabitants. The temple was discovered in the XVI century, and thanks to many years of excavations, we can imagine how the Roman city of the first century AD lived.

Pyramid of Nohoch-Mul (Nohoch Mul), Koba

Koba is an ancient Mayan city, the ceremonial buildings of which were erected around 250-900 AD. The Maya left the city around 1500 AD for unknown reasons, shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. Nohoch-Mul is considered the highest Mayan pyramid on the Yucatan Peninsula and the second in the whole world. It was discovered in the 1800s, but the place was opened to tourists only in 1973 because of the impenetrable jungle.

Mile Castle 39, Hadrian's Wall, United Kingdom

The ancient wall was built in the first century AD and stretches for 73 miles (117.5 kilometers) through the countryside of England. Historians are still arguing about the reasons for the construction. The most popular theory is that the wall was built by the Roman emperor Hadrian to protect the borders from raids. The so—called mile castles - forts were built along the wall, which were built along the entire length at intervals of one Roman mile.

Luxor Temple, Egypt

The ancient complex on the eastern bank of the Nile was erected by order of Amenhotep III in the period 1100-1600 BC. After 100 years, Ramses II completed huge pylons at the entrance and an open courtyard.

Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan city, Mexico

Teotihuacan was built between the I and VII centuries, but very little is known about its builders and inhabitants. They built the first complex in the region and mysteriously disappeared.

The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest building in Teotihuacan and one of the oldest pyramids in Central Mexico.

Temple B, Torre Argentina Square, Rome

On the square there are the ruins of four temples of the IV-II centuries BC. They were discovered in the 1920s during excavations. Archaeologists have not yet found out to whom the temples were dedicated, so they are called letters A, B, C and D.

On the Torre Argentina, where the ruins are located, Gaius Julius Caesar was killed in 44 BC.