Behind them was a towering column of smoke and flame.

With its towering columns and shimmering silks, this vast canvas meets the demands of traditional state portraiture.

After a century in which cities have sprouted towering columns of concrete and steel, a green building revolution has led to plans to build wooden skyscrapers 35 storeys high.

The leaf structure, with a span of 10.2 metre for each leaf, will be a metre higher than the nearby towering columns.

A gypsum mine in a particularly thick deposit had almost a cathedral-like air upon depletion, because of the towering columns and arches of mineral remaining.