They are buildings, cities and natural wonders. They house the heights of cultural achievement and offer backdrops for our best ideas. Asked to name the most influential place in history, previous and present TIME 100 honorees reflect on locations that have seen and in some cases helped bring about some of the most transformative moments in human experience.
The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria.
The archetypal crossroads. It is heartbreaking that the city with the most artistic content in the world — and, by definition, the greatest evidence of mankind's creative ability to live together over more than 25 centuries — may be on the brink of being ripped apart.
Koolhaas is an architect
