The Kuwait Towers are on the waterfront in Kuwait City. Built in 1979 these three towers have a dual function as both entertainment facilities and water reservoirs but you’ll probably recognise them from the backdrop of every news report that has been broadcast from Kuwait. I wonder if they have a little cordoned off area for international correspondents to do their reports from?

The largest tower has two spheres, the upper is a revolving observation deck with cafeteria and the lower sphere has 3 restaurants in the top part and a one million gallon water reservoir in the bottom. It’s easiest to make out the spheres in the tower’s shadow.

The middle sized tower has another one million gallon water reservoir in the sphere and lastly the thin tower has 96 concealed spotlights which illuminate the other two towers and the surrounding area.

Also in Kuwait is the Liberation Tower, built in 1996 to celebrate Kuwait’s liberation from the occupying Iraqis. At the time of construction it was the third tallest tower in the world at 1221 feet but now it has been relegated to 11th place.

Thanks: Samer, Kenny, JKO, B.J. Olejnik, David Lawrence, David Lawrence, Mark, Erin, Erin, Magdalena Michel, Alrayyes & Freddie M

This is Eski Rum Yetimhanesi, on the island of Buyukada off the coast of Istanbul, Turkey. I can’t verify this as Wikipedia doesn’t seem to have any information, but apparently:

it was built as a hotel, although it never received permission from the government to operate as one, so a rich Greek family bought it and donated it to the church, which used it as an orphanage until the 1970s. Since then, it’s been empty.

The building is 101 metres long and around 24 metres high, and appears to be the largest wooden building in Europe (although that’s assuming you choose to decide that Turkey is in Europe, and not Asia… because the Todaiji temple in Japan (Wikipedia page) claims to be the biggest in the world).

Thanks to deniz erdem.