Cities that conquered the world

New York

New York is one of the largest cities in the world. Its population is over 11 million people. Although it's hard to put a finger on what makes New York buzz, it's the city's hyperactive rush that really draws people here.

In a city that is so much a part of the global subconscious, it's pretty hard to pick a few highlights - wherever you go you'll feel like you've been there before. For iconic value, you can't surpass the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park or Times Square. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the world's top museums, and the Museum of Modern Art isn't far behind. Bookshops, food, theater, shopping, people: it doesn't really matter what you do or where you go in New York because the city itself is an in-your-face, exhilarating experience.

New York's famous hustle and bustle was abruptly cut short on September 11, 2001, when a terrorist attack in the form of two hijacked passenger aircraft razed the gleaming twin towers of the World Trade Center. Thousands of people were killed in the worst terrorist act ever on US soil.

Today the city is the main seaport and the financial, intellectual and artistic centre of the United States.

But life is not easy there for those who are not rich. Unless you are wealthy, you cannot live on the expensive West Side of Manhattan. The unfashionable East Side is cheaper, but you would still need a good income if you wanted a comfortable life. People with lower incomes have to live in one of the thousands of slum and semi-slum apartments (flats) with paper-thin walls in Queens or Brooklyn, where in the summer it is very hot, and in the icy winter you can freeze to death.

San Francisco

San Francisco is a special place, very different from most American cities. It lies on a small finger of land with the Pacific Ocean on one side and a huge harbour on the other. San Francisco's population is only about 700 000 but it is the biggest business center in the west of the USA. It is also America's most international city with newspapers in thirty different languages. The city is known as "the Paris of the West".

Most people enjoy the climate in San Francisco. It's never too hot and never really cold. The sea winds are healthy and they make you hungry. And it's good to be hungry in San Francisco because the food is fabulous with more than 2600 restaurants serving food from all over the world. There are at least three small cities in San Francisco: "Little Italy", with its pizzerias and restaurants, "Chinatown" with wonderful shops and exciting food and "Japan town". And everywhere you go you will see boats out on the sea, smell fresh and salt and feel the sea wind on your face.

San Francisco is a city of hills. Perhaps that's why the famous cable cars are so popular. And of course the views from the hills are spectacular.

San Francisco has a very exciting skyline with old buildings on one side and modern skyscrapers on the other.

Along the city’s waterfront lies Fisherman’s Wharf, a tourist attraction and a reminder of San Francisco’s past. It is known for its nice restaurants that offer good seafood. Not far away are the Maritime Museum and a historical park.

Chinatown is the largest Chinese community in the United States. Many people who live here today are descendants of Chinese immigrants. They came to the Pacific coast during the gold rush to find work here.

The cable car is San Francisco’s most famous symbol. It was designed to go up and down the city’s steep hills. By 1890 there was a network of over 150 km. All of the cable cars were connected to overhead power lines. Today there are only three lines left with a total of 20 km. They stay in operation mainly as a tourist attraction.

The Transamerica Pyramid is San Francisco’s most impressive building. The white office structure is 260 metres tall and looks like a thin pyramid.

Alcatraz Island, also called The Rock, lies in San Francisco Bay about 1.5 km from the coast. It was a prison which confined some of the most dangerous criminals of America. Even though it was called the safest prison in the world, a few inmates did escape from the island. The prison was closed in 1963 and today tourists can take a guided tour of the island.

Golden Gate Bridge is one of the largest bridges in the world. It spans the entrance to San Francisco Bay over a total of 2,700 metres. Towers stand on both sides of the bridge and a six lane road leads from northern California to the centre of San Francisco.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles is often called a city of fests. The city meets the tourists with a vast choice of entertainments and engaging tours. Each city district has its own unique history and features is own landmarks. The most unusual sight of the city is an ancient cemetery called Hollywood Forever which was established in 1899. This is the place of final destination of world renowned script writers, producers, actors and film directors. The cemetery is set nearby the Paramount studio and despite its mournful status the place attracts many tourists.

Scenic beaches and classy night clubs, upscale restaurants and casinos, luxury boutiques and grand entertaining centers are just a part of the entertainments to enliven the leisure in Los Angeles.

Tourists should definitely visit the Petersen Automotive Museum which is considered one of the most unusual and interesting in its kind. The opening of the museum took place in 1994 and since that time its grand collection offers the visitors to enjoy the vehicles of different epochs. There are some cars aged more than 100 years. Another significant landmark of the city of Los Angeles is the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Walking on the sidewalks one can see thousands of five pointed stars bearing the names of the greatest contributors to the entertainment industry. Now it consists of more than 2.5 thousands of starts which turns it to be a great challenge to find a star of your idol there.

Those tourists who enjoy walking through the scenic areas and viewing architectural landmarks will surely like the Getty Center. This grand art center in Art Nouveau was built upon the project of renowned architect Richard Meier. It was opened in 1997. Not the center encompasses several of stone buildings of amazing beauty sinking in scenic gardens and parks. The world renowned landmark is the Wax museum which was established in 1964. Today it performs above two hundreds of figures. There are wax figures of renowned actors, politicians, sportsmen, pop stars. The figures are so realistic that it is hard to distinguish them from live human beings.

Guinness world of records museum is also of great popularity among travelers. Its huge collection just stunning as it performs the figure of the biggest man, the grand pictures made of bread and amazing constructions made of matches. The scale museum is parted in several theme zones. To keep the interest of the visitors hot the collection is regularly added with ever new exhibit items. Among other unique landmarks of the city one will find the Grauman’s Chinese Theater, the Kodak Theater, Walt Disney Concert Hall and its magic castle.

New Orleans

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana.

Walking tours are one of the most popular ways to see New Orleans. A walk through the historic French Quarter offers access to various jazz clubs, museums, antique shops, and galleries. Aficionados of historic architecture will exult in the crowded French Quarter and grandiose Garden District, while those with a hankering to take history home will adore the antique shops of Royal Street. A stroll through the Garden District offers a view of the elegant mansions, known for their extravagant gardens, built by the Americans who settled in New Orleans after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. A walking tour through the foot of Canal Street in the Central Business District offers shopping mall stops, as well as visits to the World Trade Center and the Aquarium of the Americas. Sightseeing tours by steamboat and streetcar are also popular. New Orleans has a tendency to bring folks out in a rash of Lestatesque gothic brooding - have a wander among the city's ornate aboveground cemeteries or shed a tear for Jeff Buckley on a ferry cruise of the Mississippi River, then forget your troubles with some crawfish, cool jazz and a mint julep.

The most famous landmarks

The Las Vegas Strip

The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, internationally known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos along its route. The Strip is approximately 4.2 miles (6.8 km) in length,located immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits in the unincorporated towns of Paradise and Winchester. However, the Strip is often referred to as being "in Las Vegas". Most of the Strip has been designated an All-American Road, and is considered a scenic route at night. Many of the largest hotel, casino, and resort properties in the world are located on the Las Vegas Strip. Fifteen of the world's 25 largest hotels by room count are on the Strip, with a total of over 62,000 rooms.

Every major hotel on the Strip has its own peculiarity. For example, at the Imperial Palace Hotel, runs the famous museum of vintage cars, the largest exhibition hall in the world, where the exhibits put up more than two hundred and fifty vintage car models.

Outside Strip is Caesar's Palace - one of the most famous casinos in Las Vegas. In front of the palace is the Arc de Triomphe, decorated with sculptures. Casino staff dressed appropriately era of ancient Rome: the women wear Roman togas, and men dressed in robes of legionaries. Another attraction of the Strip - Excalibur hotel building resembling a medieval castle from a fairy tale.

One of the most visible aspects of Las Vegas' cityscape is its use of dramatic architecture and lights. The rapidly evolving skyline and constant modernization of hotels, casinos, restaurants, residential high-rises, and entertainment offerings on the Strip, have established it as one of the most popular destinations for tourists in the United States, and the world.

Round the clock, all year round on the Las Vegas Strip reigns joy and celebration, the street at night is brightly lit lots of neon signs, do not forget to visit the historic ranch Bonnie Springs. Las Vegas is an oasis, where life abounds.

Statue of Liberty

In 1886, The Statue of Liberty Monument was a given to the United States from France to celebrate the friendship the two endured during the American Revolution. The Statue of Liberty has over the years has symbolized the freedom and the democracy of the United States.

Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to design the Statue Sculpture with the completion date of 1876 to celebrate American’s centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. The Statue of Liberty was to be a joint effort between the United States and France. France would build and design the Statue part and United States would complete the pedestal that would hold Lady Liberty. Bartholdi needed an engineer to address the structural issues with designing the sculpture so Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (Eiffel Tower) provided assistance with getting the Statue to stand upright.

Funds to create the Statue of Liberty would prove to be tedious for both sides. In France, entertainment, public fees and a national lottery would help with the funds. In United States, things were much slower. Auctions, various forms of entertainment, and fights would help provide some funds. Joseph Pulitzer decided he needed to get the attention of the American people to get necessary money, he took out an editorial in his newspaper putting pressure on the rich and middle class to help funds this important icon for America. On August 1885 finances in the United States for the pedestal was complete. The construction finished in April 1886. In France the Statue was finished in 1884 and arrived in NY Harbor 1885 aboard the French vessel “Isere”.

In order to get the Statue to the United States the Statue was broken down into 350 individual pieces and packed in 214 crates. On October 28, 1886 the Statue of Liberty dedication took place, ten years later than the centennial date of 1876. The Statue of Liberty was placed on the granite pedestal in the star-shaped walls of Fort Wood.

Until 1901, the Statue of Liberty was the responsibility of the United States Lighthouse Board. In 1901, the war department took control of the Statue of Liberty. On October 15th, 1924 a Presidential Proclamation declared Fort Hood and the Statue of Liberty a National Monument. In 1933, The National Monument was placed in care of the National Park Service and a few years later the jurisdiction of the Monument would include all of Bedloe’s Island, and by 1956, the island’s name changed to Liberty Island.

Ellis Island was transferred into the National Park Service in 1965 and became part of the Statue of Liberty Monument. President Ronald Reagan wanted to restore the Statue of Liberty in 1982. Fundraising for an $87 million dollar restoration of the Statue of Liberty would take place between the National Park Service and Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. In 1984, the United Nations declared the Statue of Liberty as a World Heritage Site, and the completion of the restoration of the Statue was complete on July 5th, 1986, which celebrated her centennial.

The Statue of Liberty was closed a 100 days after September 11, 2001. The grounds reopened but the Statue remained closed until August 2004. Today visitors have access to the Statue’s pedestal observation deck a, promenade, museum, the area of Ft. Hood and Ellis Island. If you want to visit it, start early to avoid the crowds - it's hard to contemplate the American dream with your nose to the tail of the person in front.

The White House

In Washington, DC, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a very special address. It's the address of the White House, the home of the President of the United States.

Originally the White House was grey and was called the Presidential Palace. It was built from 1792 to 1800. At this time, the city of Washington itself was being built. It was to be the nation's new capital city. George Washington, the first president, and Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer, chose the place for the new city. L'Enfant then planned the city and the President's home was an important part of the plan.

A contest was held to pick a design for the president's home. An architect named James Hoban won. He designed a large three-story house of grey stone.

President Washington never lived in the Presidential Palace. The first president to live there was John Adams, the second president of the United States, and his wife. Mrs Adams did not really like her new house. In her letters, she often complained about the cold. Fifty fireplaces were not enough to keep the house warm!

In 1812 the United States and Britain went to war. In 1814 the British invaded Washington. They burned many buildings, including the Presidential Palace.

After the war James Hoban, the original architect, partially rebuilt the president's home. To cover the marks of the fire, the building was painted white. Before long it became known as the White House.

The White House with its landscapes occupies about 18 acres of land. Today, the White House is one of the most popular places for tourists in the United States. Only five rooms are open to public and every year more than a million people go through them. Public tours of the White House include the public rooms in the East Wing, which includes the Blue Room, Red Room and Green Room; the State Dining Room; the China Room; and a view of the White House Rose Garden. Secret Service members are stationed in each room and are available to answer questions about the history and architecture of each room.

Wonders of nature

Denali National Park

Denali National Park and Preserve is a national park and preserve located in Interior Alaska, centered on Denali, the highest mountain in North America. The park and contiguous preserve encompasses more than 6 million acres (24,500 km2), of which 4,724,735.16 acres (19,120 km2) are not federally owned by the national park. The national preserve is 1,334,200 acres (5,430 km2), of which 1,304,132 acres (5,278 km2) are federally owned. On December 2, 1980, a 2,146,580 acre (8,687 km2) Denali Wilderness was established within the park.

The story of the park’s establishment begins in the first half of the 20th century, with Charles Alexander Sheldon, a conservationist possessing a particular passion for sheep. Charles Sheldon was a hunter and naturalist attracted to Denali specifically by Dall sheep. He had traveled the world hunting sheep and was drawn here by the world’s only while, white mountain sheep.

In the winter of 1907-8, Sheldon observed over 2000 Dall sheep taken from the Denali area by commercial meat hunters who sold the carcasses to Alaska railroad workers and gold miners in Kantishna. These two occurrences brought the first significant numbers o white men to Interior Alaska. Sheldon was astute enough to realize the hunting of wildlife and the fragile ecosystem would vanish under these kinds of pressures.

Sheldon returned to Washington, D. C. and with the help of the Boone and Crockett Club, lobbied Congress to establish Mount McKinley National Park to protect the wildlife within. On February 26, 1917, President Wilson signed into law the bill establishing Mount McKinley National Park as a 2 million acre wildlife preserve.

Considering that at the time most people’s impression of Alaska was “Seward’s Folly, and the fact we did not reach statehood until 1959, it was a courageous act to protect such vast lands in what was then considered by many to be a remote and frozen wasteland. With time and the result of a series of wildlife studies, particularly by the Muries, it was a recognized that the established park was not large enough to protect habitat for such magnificent animals as Dall sheep, grizzly bears, wolves, moose and nomadic caribou. Also, the shape of the Park as an elongated rectangle was not a natural boundary. It did not reflect river drainages or ridgelines, animal movements and seasonal migration routes or birding requirements.

In 1939, the Park Road was completed to Wonder Lake. The Denali Highway was completed in 1958, permitting summer travel to the Park by auto. In 1971, the Alaska Highway, connecting Anchorage to Fairbanks increased public usage significantly.

Fortunately, through the foresight of President Jimmy Carter and other promoters of wilderness preservation, the Park boundaries were expanded to 6 million acres when Carter signed into law the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) and the name of the Park was changed to Denali National Park and Preserve.

Even at a size larger than the State of Massachusetts, Denali National Park and Preserve is only the bare minimum in size in attempting to protect an intact ecosystem and its wildlife populations within.

n 1976 Denali was designated as an International Biosphere Reserve. Biosphere reserves have been designed as tools for reconciling and integrating the conflicting interests and pressures that characterize land-use planning today. The origin of Biosphere Reserves goes back to the “Biosphere Conference” organized by UNESCO in 1968, the first intergovernmental conference to seek to reconcile the conservation and use of natural resources. The early foundations of the Biosphere Reserve Concept derived from this conference. This designation allows Denali to conduct research and operate in an in-tact ecosystem.

The park attracts research biologists and botanists from all over the world to study an intact ecosystem.

Denali's landscape is a mix of forest at the lowest elevations, including deciduous taiga. The preserve is also home to tundra at middle elevations, and glaciers, rock, and snow at the highest elevations. The longest glacier is the Kahiltna Glacier. Today, 400,000 people visit the park annually. Wintertime activities includes dog-sledding, cross-country skiing, and snowmachining.

Kīlauea

Kīlauea (English pronunciation kill-uh-WAY-uh) is a currently active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands, and the most active of the five volcanoes that together form the island of Hawai.

The volcano became a tourist attraction from the 1840s onwards, and local businessmen such as Benjamin Pitman and George Lycurgus ran a series of hotels at the rim, including Volcano House which is still the only hotel or restaurant located within the borders of the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. by 1911 Governor Walter F. Frear had proposed a draft bill to create "Kilauea National Park".

Today, Kīlauea is visited by roughly 2.6 million people annually, most of whom proceed up the volcano from the recently revamped Kilauea Visitor Center near the park entrance.

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the international border between Canada and the United States; more specifically, between the province of Ontario and the state of New York. They form the southern end of the Niagara Gorge.

Peak visitor traffic occurs in the summertime, when Niagara Falls are both a daytime and evening attraction. The oldest and best known tourist attraction at Niagara Falls is the Maid of the Mist boat cruise, named for an ancient Ongiara Indian mythical character, which has carried passengers into the rapids immediately below the falls since 1846. Cruise boats operate from boat docks on both sides of the falls.

From the U.S. side, the American Falls can be viewed from walkways along Prospect Point Park, which also features the Prospect Point Park observation tower and a boat dock for the Maid of the Mist.

On the Canadian side, Queen Victoria Park features manicured gardens, platforms offering views of both the American and Horseshoe Falls, and underground walkways leading into observation rooms that yield the illusion of being within the falling waters

Better time to go

The US is most popular with travelers during the summer, but this is when American families pack everything up and head out to visit Aunt Tilly. To avoid mobs (especially throughout the national-park system), it's better to go during autumn or early spring.

Autumn is an especially good time to visit New England and the upper Great Lakes because fall colors are at their best. Most of the country east of the Rockies is hot and humid during summer, especially the south. The deserts between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada are very hot and dry during the summer, especially in the southwest. California's southern coast is comfortable year-round, but if you want to experience the beach scene, it's best to visit between June and September.

Glossary

 

1. “the Paris of the West” is the description, which applied to a number of locations, including: Abidjan Ivory Coast, Buenos Aires Argentina, Cincinnati USA, Denver USA, Detroit USA,Merida Mexico, Montreal Canada, San Francisco USA.

2. A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.

3. A mansion is a large dwelling house.

4. A metropolitan area is a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing

5. A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid magma flows.

6. A waterfall is a place where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of drops in the course of a stream or river.

7. Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life.

8. An antique (Latin: antiquus; "old", "ancient") is an old collectable item.

9. ANILCA. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) is a United States federal law passed on November 12, 1980 by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 2 of that year

10. Birdwatching, or birding, is a form of wildlife observation in which the observation of birds is a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds

11. Blues is a genre and musical form originated by African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the end of the 19th century.

12. Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015

13. Cable cars is any of a variety of transportation systems relying on cables to pull vehicles along or lower them at a steady rate.

14. Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, colonizer, discoverer of America and citizen of the Republic of Genoa.

15. Economics is the social science that describes the factors that determine the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.

16. Epcot is the the second of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near the city of Orlando.

17. Glamour – the quality of fascinating, alluring, or attracting, especially by a combination of charm and good looks.

18. Gothic – pertaining to or designating the style of painting, sculpture, etc., produced between the 13th and 15th centuries, especially in northern Europe, characterized by a tendency toward realism and interest in detail.

19. Hiking is the preferred term, in Canada and the United States, for a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails (footpaths), in the countryside, while the word walking is used for shorter, particularly urban walks

20. Industry is the production of goods or related services within an economy.

21. International mostly means something (a company, language, or organization) involving more than a single country.

22. Jazz – music originating in New Orleans around the beginning of the 20th century and subsequently developing through various increasingly complex styles, generally marked by intricate, propulsive rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing and so on.

23. Landscape – a picture representing natural inland or coastal scenery.

24. Magic Kingdom or Magic Kingdom Park is the first-built of the four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida.

25. Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the city's historical birthplace.

26. Modern architecture or modernist architecture is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely

27. Myth is central component of religious practice.

28. Oasis is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert.

29. Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

30. Pedestal – an architectural support for a column, statue, vase, or the like.

31. Preserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research.

32. Regionalism is an American realist modern art movement that included paintings, murals, lithographs, and illustrations depicting realistic scenes of rural and small town America primarily in the midwest and deep south.

33. Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll or rock 'n' roll) is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, from a combination of African-American genres such as blues, boogie-woogie, jump blues, jazz, and gospel music, together with Western swing and country music

34. Sculpture – the art of carving, modeling, welding, or otherwise producing figurative or abstract works of art in three dimensions, as in relief, intaglio, or in the round

35. The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems.

36. The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer under British rule.

37. The legionary was a professional heavy infantryman of the Roman army after the Marian reforms.

38. The Maid of the Mist is a boat tour of Niagara Falls, New York, USA.

39. The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government that manages all U.S. national parks, many American national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations

40. The Prospect Point Park observation tower is a tower located in Niagara Falls, New York, USA and just east of the American Falls.

41. The Rock or Alcatraz Island, small island in San Francisco Bay, California, United States

42. The Rocky Mountains, commonly known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range in western North America.

43. The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States.

44. The Transamerica Pyramid is the tallest skyscraper in the San Francisco skyline.

45. The Canada–United States border, officially known as the International Boundary, is the longest international border in the world.

46. Toga -(in ancient Rome) the loose outer garment worn by citizens in public.

47. UNESCO. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN).

48. Washington - a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States located north of Oregon, west of Idaho, and south of the Canadian province of British Columbia on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

49. Washington George was the first President of the United States (1789–97), the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

50. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia, is the capital of the United States.

 

Реферат на тему:

«СОЛЯНЫЕ ШАХТЫ СОЛЕДАРА»

 

Введение

Небольшой городок Соледар – административная единица Артемовска. На первый взгляд, это ничем не примечательный тихий и аккуратный город. Но самое главное его отличие и достоинство скрыто на глубине 300 м. Удивительный подземный мир расположенной здесь соляной шахты не оставляет равнодушным никого. Вы окажетесь в совершенно другом мире, незабываемом, неизведанном и интригующем.
Посетители шахты идут практически по дну древнего моря, в глубине пластов, которым 280 миллионов лет. Соляные галереи и огромные соляные залы. Каменная соль не просто так названа «каменной». Стены по прочности не уступают камню, и, бродя под овальными сводами, не сразу понимаешь, что это соляные пласты, а не аккуратно вырезанные в граните пещеры.