Triumphs and Tremors

The five moments in this challenge

The scenes are shown below — tap a card to reveal its place and year.

1. 

   Round 1 · 1930

   Joining the Sydney Harbour Bridge Arches

   Sydney, Australia

   High above the harbor, workers finally joined the two steel half-arches of the iconic bridge, a massive public works project that sustained the city through the Great Depression.

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2. 

   Round 2 · 1436

   Brunelleschi Completes the Florence Dome

   Florence, Italy

   After decades of skepticism, Filippo Brunelleschi successfully closed the massive octagonal dome of Santa Maria del Fiore without using wooden centering, revolutionizing Renaissance architecture forever.

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3. 

   Round 3 · 1854

   The Eureka Stockade Rebellion

   Ballarat, Australia

   Frustrated by extortionate mining licenses, gold prospectors built a makeshift wooden fortress and raised the Southern Cross flag in a brief but highly influential armed uprising against colonial forces.

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4. 

   Round 4 · 1817

   San Martín Crosses the Andes

   Andes Mountains, Argentina

   General José de San Martín led a daring expedition of five thousand soldiers and ten thousand mules across the treacherous, freezing Andean passes to liberate Chile from Spanish royalist control.

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5. 

   Round 5 · 500

   Erecting the Gate of the Sun

   Tiwanaku, Bolivia

   Artisans of the Tiwanaku empire hoisted this massive megalithic arch, intricately carved from a single block of andesite, to serve as an astronomical monument in their high-altitude capital.

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