Throughout history,
cities have been built with rock. Egypt’s pyramids and Sphinx are made
of limestone. India’s Taj Mahal is built from marble. New York’s Empire
State Building is faced with granite and limestone. What makes a good
building stone? It should be attractive and easy to work with—but
not crack, crumble, or weather too easily. |
 |
![[Photograph: Workers set stone in top of facade of National Museum of Natural History building facing National Mall (black and white).]](images/3_0_0_0/3_1_4_0_main.jpg)
On May 11, 1909, after five years of
construction, workers set the last stone on what would become the
Museum of Natural History. Like most of the exterior stone, it was
a piece of granite. |
