10 most recognisable landmarks in the world?

Okay, after watching a documentary a while ago, it got me thinking, what are the 10 most recognisable landmarks in the world? Now, the documentary I watched was “Megastructures – The World’s Tallest Hotel”, where it documents the construction of the Burj Al Arab, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (You know, the one that looks like a big sail and is currently only one of two hotels in the world to earn a 7 star status?) In that documentary, the designer for the building had to design an icon. A building or structure, that when drawn with a few simple lines, is instantly recognisable. (I am going only by man-made here)

The architect of the Burj Al Arab gave three examples of landmarks that have achieved “icon” status. These were: The Pyramids in Egypt, The Sydney Opera House in Australia, and The Eiffel Tower in France. I did a few google searches to see what else could be on this “icon” list, and I ran into this forum located on skyscrapercity.com. Many arguments going around as to what should be on the top three list. After looking a few pages into this thread, it is clear that many people believe that these two are definiately on this list: Eiffel Tower, and The Statue of Liberty. Many other suggestions being thrown around were Big Ben, Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China, Empire State Building, The Colosseum, Tiananmen Square and St. Basil’s Cathedral (The big red castle like building in Moscow, Russia). Although, almost undisputedly, this image is recognisable pretty much everywhere and by everyone…

This list of ten most recognisable landmarks is pretty good and I could agree with this list: Great Pyramids, Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House, Taj Mahal, Saint Basil’s Cathedral, The Colosseum, Big Ben, Statue of Christ the Redeemer, Golden Gate Bridge and The Great Wall of China. This list of course doesn’t match what everyone says, but when you go up to a reasonably educated person, you show them pictures of those landmarks, chances are, they would know, if not all, most of them and identify what country they belong to as well. I would like to know what you think, so if you want to suggest anything, comment here.