Landmark

A landmark literally meant a geographic feature used by explorers and others to find their way back to their departure point, or through an area.

In American English it is the main term used to designate places that might be of interest to tourists, due to notable physical features or historical significance.

[citation needed] In urban studies as well as in geography, a landmark is furthermore defined as an external point of reference that helps orientation in a familiar or unfamiliar environment.

In the modern sense, landmarks are usually referred to as monuments or prominent distinctive buildings, used as the symbol of a certain area, city, or nation.

Some examples are Tokyo Tower in Tokyo, the White House in Washington, D.C., the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building in New York City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, the Lotte World Tower in Seoul, the Colosseum in Rome, Big Ben in London, the Tsūtenkaku in Osaka, the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Great Pyramid in Giza, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Statue of Unity in Narmada, Bratislava Castle in Bratislava, Helsinki Cathedral in Helsinki, the Space Needle in Seattle, the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Château Frontenac in Quebec (city), Place Stanislas in Nancy, the CN Tower in Toronto, the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, the Atomium in Brussels, Gateway Arch in St Louis, and the Moai in Easter Island.

An 18th-century painting of a ship with Table Mountain in the background, used by navigators as the landmark to sail around southern tip of Africa .
The Statue of Liberty (formally Liberty Enlightening the World ), a famous landmark of New York City and the United States , greets newly arrived immigrants and is located near Ellis Island , where millions of immigrants first touched U.S. soil.
The Eiffel Tower - tallest in the world from 1889 to 1930 and a famous Paris landmark