We're used to seeing modern landmarks in their completed glory, but we gain a new appreciation for those familiar monuments when we see them in progress, and remember all the labor that went into bringing them to life.

In 1758, 48 years before Napoleon commissioned the Arc de Triomphe, the architect Charles-François Ribart proposed constructing an elephant-shaped building on the very site where the future arc would stand. It's just one of the many possible alternatives for the familiar landmarks we see today.

The Sydney Opera House finally achieves its destiny of looking like a space cruiser being eaten by the jealous gods of hyperspace, in an art installation by musical superfreak Brian Eno. The U2/Devo producer blasted some of his tie-dye-esque art onto the walls in an installation called "77 Million Paintings."