Skylines and landscapes around the world would look pretty empty without their famous monuments. But some of the planet's most distinguished landmarks almost didn't stand the test of time.

Click through the gallery to discover the beloved attractions that were nearly lost over the centuries...

The London Eye was dreamt up in the 1990s by husband-and-wife architect team David Marks and Julia Barfield as part of a competition for a monument to mark the millennium. The competition ultimately didn’t result in anything, but the Barfields decided to take the project forward themselves. Construction of the now-famous London landmark began in 1998 and it’s pictured here in 1999, laying horizontally across the River Thames ready to be lifted into position.

The landmark opened to the public in 2000 and quickly became a beloved fixture of the London skyline and one of the capital’s top attractions. But the observation wheel was only intended to be temporary and was due to be dismantled five years after it was installed. However, such was its appeal that Lambeth Council granted permission for the wheel to become a permanent attraction. Now more than three million people take to its revolving pods each year.

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The Hollywood Hills might look rather bare without their world-famous sign but the ginormous white letters were only meant to be a temporary instalment. The sign originally read 'Hollywoodland' and was erected to mark a brand new housing development in the 1920s. Its creators intended it to stand over the swathe of swanky real estate for a year and a half.

Almost 100 years later, the Hollywood Sign remains one of California’s most distinctive landmarks. Having become a glittering symbol of the area after its instalment, the sign was left up but neglected, and it soon suffered serious damage. The forgotten landmark continued to deteriorate right up until the late 1970s when it was finally replaced and reborn. Now it’s almost impossible to envisage Los Angeles without these proud letters watching over town.

Read more about the fascinating story of the Hollywood Sign

It’s hard to imagine the Paris skyline without the Eiffel Tower, but the landmark was originally intended to be a temporary installation. It was built for the International Exposition of 1889, serving as the impressive gateway to the show, with the tower itself soaring to 984 feet (300m). It was due to be pulled down in 1909, which would have given it a 20-year lifespan.

In a bid to save the tower, architect and civil engineer Gustave Eiffel waxed lyrical about the landmark’s potential uses in the fields of science, technology and meteorology. He described it as an “observatory” and a “laboratory the likes of which has never before been available to science”. The city eventually conceded and the tower was indeed used for meteorological and astronomical experiments. Today, of course, it’s an iconic tourist attraction visited by millions each year.

Read more about the incredible true story of the Eiffel Tower

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a mind-boggling feat of medieval architecture and a symbol of one of Italy’s prettiest cities. But its life was almost cut short. Leon Weckstein, a GI in the United States Army, was under orders to demolish the beautiful tower if necessary, since it was thought that German forces occupied it. The tower’s future hung in the balance. It’s pictured here in 1944 after the undamaged tower had finally fallen to the Allies.

Upon reaching the target, Weckstein was captivated by the tower. In fact, he was so entranced that he found he could not go ahead with the orders to demolish it. In his memoir, Through My Eyes, Weckstein writes, “The tower, the neighbouring cathedral and baptistery, were too beautiful”. As he stood enraptured, German shells began to fall, the American soldiers fled and the tower was spared.

Crowning Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, this rotund Gothic building dates back to 1876 when it was built as part of the Parliament of Canada’s sprawling Centre Block. The stunning library has stood the test of time, surviving a blaze that ravaged the rest of the parliamentary complex. In 1916, a fire, started by sparks in a wastepaper basket, swept through the buildings, destroying everything in its wake. Here it’s shown in the background of a photograph from 1916, rising from the wreckage as construction work begins on the rest of the complex.

Against the odds, the Library of Parliament was saved as its mighty iron doors were closed. The other buildings were completed again by 1927 and today they still brood over Canada’s capital. The Library of Parliament remains the site’s crowning jewel.

Cologne Cathedral dates right back to the 13th century, although much of it was constructed during the 1800s. But the striking sacred building almost didn’t survive the 20th century. Cologne was hit hard in the Second World War, with buildings razed to the ground and the city centre devastated. The cathedral wasn’t spared either. It’s thought it took 14 bomb hits during the war, its lofty spires a useful reference point for the Allied Forces. Here the cathedral is seen brooding over the flattened city in 1945 as US troops move through the ruins.

Although the cathedral suffered extensive damage – including holes in its walls and spires and shattered stained glass – it remained standing. Much of the artwork and sacred relics that existed within were protected after the war too, and the cathedral was eventually restored. Today it’s one of Germany’s most-visited attractions and, with its soaring twin spires, still held up as one of Europe’s most impressive cathedrals.

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Part of the Giza pyramid complex (whose Great Pyramid is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), the Sphinx is a mammoth limestone monument of a mythical creature with a human’s head and a lion’s body. It’s thought the statue was built around 2500 BC for King Khafre and it’s on many a traveller’s bucket list today. However, it was almost lost to the whims of Mother Nature. It’s pictured here circa the 1870s buried to its shoulders by desert sands.

At some point during its long history, the Sphinx was abandoned. Early attempts to excavate the landmark were unsuccessful and its figure had suffered serious erosion. It wasn’t until the 20th century that the ancient monument was finally completely excavated, saving it from further damage and revealing it as one of the largest monolithic statues in the world.

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Grand Central in New York opened in 1913 and has been a beloved Midtown Manhattan landmark for more than a century. It serves as both a railroad terminal and a shopping and dining complex, and is known for its elegant four-faced clock and buzzing main concourse. It’s pictured here during its construction in 1912. Today it attracts hundreds of thousands of people per year, but it almost didn’t last past the 1960s.

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Long-distance rail travel took a hit after the Second World War and the station fell into decline. Neglected and decaying, the once opulent building faced the wrecking ball in the 1950s and 60s. However, it was eventually saved by campaigners, including former First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and was granted landmark status by 1976. In the decades that followed, the mouldering monument was restored and once again took on the glittering shape we see it in today.

The Dome of the Rock, with its giant golden dome and intricate mosaics, dates to the 7th century, and the site it’s built upon is sacred to both Jewish and Muslim peoples. The building has suffered a tumultuous history, taking several blows from Mother Nature and being reimagined multiple times throughout its existence. It's pictured here in the 1920s before the 1927 Jericho earthquake.

The sacred building was also damaged in a pair of earthquakes in the 9th century and again in the 11th century, when its mighty dome was destroyed. But each time the shrine has been restored and rebuilt, and extensive renovations took place in the 1990s too. Now it remains an important pilgrimage site for people across the globe.

This unassuming canal-side house in Amsterdam was made famous by Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who hid in a secret annex with her family during the Nazi regime and kept a diary of her experiences. Although Anne didn’t survive the war, her diary was preserved and later published. This 2017 shot shows the room she occupied as preserved by the Anne Frank Foundation.

 After the war, the building faced an uncertain future and it looked likely that it would be demolished in order to make room for a factory. However, campaigners fought to preserve the building on account of its important wartime history and, happily, they were successful. By the mid-1950s the house had been saved. In the 1960s, it opened as a public museum, as it remains today.

One of the world’s most famous Roman monuments almost didn’t survive into this century. The life of this giant amphitheatre, famed for its bloody gladiatorial battles during the Roman era, has spanned around two millennia. But major earthquakes over the centuries have threatened to pull this ancient landmark to the ground. One in 1349 caused its south side to collapse. In 1703, the landmark was rocked again by another earthquake that affected the Abruzzo region – it’s captured here in a 1747 painting, several decades after this second disaster.

More recently, in 2016, a devastating earthquake struck Rome and wider Italy once again, forming further cracks in this fragile ancient landmark. But for now, the amphitheatre still stands tall against the odds, drawing visitors in their millions each year.

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Once a home for China’s imperial rulers, Beijing’s Forbidden City sprawls across 178 acres and today houses the Palace Museum. It’s also the largest collection of ancient wooden structures in the world. Yet it was almost lost forever, as fire has threatened to completely ravage the historic complex on more than one occasion over the centuries.

The Forbidden City suffered extensive damage in 1644 when it was captured by Chinese rebel leader Li Zicheng and his forces. Zicheng was quickly overthrown by Manchu invaders but he set fire to large swathes of the imperial complex as he fled. Much of the structures were rebuilt throughout the Qing dynasty and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

St Paul’s Cathedral, with its titanic dome and elegant columns, took its present shape in the 17th century, designed by lauded English architect Christopher Wren. Earlier iterations had already been destroyed by Viking Raiders and later Cromwell’s cavalry during the English Civil War of the 1600s. Work on the cathedral had lasted from 1675 right up until 1710. But it was almost destroyed once again during the Second World War. It's pictured here surrounded by smoke in 1940.

The famous cathedral took several direct hits as bombs shook London during the Blitz but it miraculously stayed standing, becoming an emblem of resilience and wartime resistance. Once the devastating conflict was over, St Paul’s was restored to its pre-war glory and was a site of post-war celebration. Now the cathedral attracts millions of visitors per year and has played host to important events, including preaches by Martin Luther King Jr and the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana.

The world’s most famous presidential building, the White House has been home to America’s president since 1800, when John Adams first moved into the unfinished residence with his wife. But it was almost completely destroyed in 1814. During the War of 1812, the British stormed Washington DC, burning several federal buildings including the White House, forcing then-president James Madison to flee the city.

Following the devastation, the White House was reconstructed by James Hoban, the Irish-born architect who originally designed the building. Hoban had the residence ready for President James Munroe by 1817, and his ongoing reconstruction included the addition of the North and South porticos in the 1820s. Today the White House remains the most recognisable symbol of the American government.

The Capitol Building in Washington suffered a similar fate during the War of 1812. It too was set alight by the British during the Burning of Washington in 1814, and was left almost completely devastated. This painting by American artist George Munger shows the mighty building in the aftermath of the blaze – you can make out the blackened walls and the hollow shell of the rotunda without a facade or a roof.

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At the time of the fire, the Capitol Building was still only partially completed but, luckily, the use of fireproof materials prevented the landmark’s complete collapse. One of the building's original architects, Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe, was rehired to restore it in 1815 (he was eventually succeeded by Charles Bullfinch) and work would take around four years. The building we see today took shape in the mid-1800s when its mammoth cast-iron dome was erected on top.

Now discover what the world's most famous landmarks looked like a century ago compared to today