The World’s Most Spectacular Skylines

08/18/08  Print This Post Print This Post    87 Comments   Popular   Written by Juliane Huang
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Chicago skyline reflected off the Bean / Photo by jswieringa. Feature photo by Pete Carr.

Some of the best instances in which humanity attempts to reach for the heavens.

Something about the outline of a city against its clear, crisp sky stops us in our tracks and commands our attention.

How mesmerizing it is to gaze upon the contours of our structures as they stretch toward the clouds above. Each building rises higher than the next and stands as testament to human engineering and architectural advancements. Its shape reveals our history, our culture, our beliefs, our beauty to the infinite universe. How can we not stop and stare?

Below are staggeringly beautiful images where city meets sky all across the globe.

Miami, Florida, USA / Photo by vgm8383.

Bangkok, Thailand / Photo by Andrew Hux.

Vancouver, British Columbia / Photo by kennymatic.

Republic Plaza, Singapore / Photo by Singapor3.

Sydney, Australia / Photy by Maik Radke.

Shanghai, China / Photo by Molas.

London, England / Photo by vemma.

South Perth, Australia / Photo by Ole Reidar Johansen.

Cologne, Germany / Photo by JaBB.

Graz, Austria / Photo by dr.wiwo.

Boston, Massachusetts, USA / Photo by pxlpusher.

Hong Kong / Photo by wenzday01.

Detroit, Michigan / Photo by Sagittariuss.

Berlin, Germany / Photo by moonb00twalkerinthedark.

Venice, Italy / Photo by vgm8383.

New York, New York, USA / Photo by Fredo Alvarez.

Warsaw, Poland / Photo by Qba from Poland.

San Francisco, California, USA / Photo by David Paul Ohmer.


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About the Author

Juliane Huang

Juliane Huang majored in New Heights, with a minor in Acrophobia. She is in love with amazing photography and will follow you to the ends of the earth if you can produce a killer shot. You can find her sidewalk musings on her blog.

87 Comments... join the discussion!

  • bro replied on August 19, 2008

    worst. blog. ever. seriously the weakest shot of the new york skyline ive ever seen.

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  • Kevin replied on August 19, 2008

    Absolutely agreed (though I can't thumbs up you because I don't feel like registering for their site). New York City's skyline is likely the most famous in the world, and certainly the most famous in America. That photograph is absolutely awful.

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  • Jamal replied on August 19, 2008

    Well it's hard to make something shitty look like gold. So yeah, that's why the New York skyline looks like it does.

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  • Jamal replied on August 19, 2008

    It's hard to make something shitty look like gold. That's why the New York skyline looks like it does. Sorry your city looks even worse than detroit, and detroit sucks.

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  • Jesus replied on August 19, 2008

    Your blog kind of blows. Try submitting something betterof yours to digg next time rather than this rubbish.

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  • Mike replied on August 19, 2008

    San Francisco's picture is horrible also. Get one from Treasure Island or the east bay or a ferry. Shameful.

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  • raj bajaj replied on August 19, 2008

    no tokyo? mediocre list

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  • FAIL replied on August 19, 2008

    San Diego? Panama City? What fucking picture of San Francisco doesn't have the Golden Gate Bridge? FAIL

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  • Devin replied on August 19, 2008

    Wtf? No Paris? You have warsaw, cologne, perth, graz, and vancouver but not Paris? With the iconic Eiffel Tower being part of its skyline, you should try using your brain before just google image searching, "skylines" and sifting through the nissans.

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  • Exo replied on August 19, 2008

    LOL, this is quite laughable.. you can definately get better skyline pics then these.. the grain and blur makes my eyes hurt..

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  • Deeznutz replied on August 19, 2008

    No mountains in the Vancouver skyline? WTF? Thats like taking a picture of the lights shining on the mona lisa instead of the painting. Booo-urns.

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  • Sean replied on August 19, 2008

    no tokyo? these are some of the worst skyline pics ive ever seen.

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  • Bill G. replied on August 19, 2008

    Where's the picture of Seattle?

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  • Mustaches Wild replied on August 19, 2008

    Good idea, mediocre execution. Weak-sauce picture of NYC.

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  • Humbert replied on August 19, 2008

    Shouldn't these pictures actually be of the skyline of these cities?

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  • AAr replied on August 19, 2008

    what about Denver, Atlanta and Budapest? they at least should bump detroit, boston and warsaw off your list and you need better photography of each. Also i'm not sure london, venice and colgone should be on this list. yes they have great architecture but it's not great 'skyline architecture" per se

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  • Englebert Humperdink replied on August 19, 2008

    I'd rather see pictures of the new Nissan Skyline than this trash.

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  • Usuck replied on August 19, 2008

    Also, being from Chicago, I give that one an F-. I've taken better shots of the bean and of the skyline in general.

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  • Mike k replied on August 19, 2008

    The Seattle skiyline is many times better than most of those pictures.

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  • Adam replied on August 19, 2008

    wait… you have farking detriot, but not Chicago? In what alternate universe was this post conceived?

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  • Jeff replied on August 19, 2008

    Vancouver has nothing on Toronto and Detroit has a bleak skyline at the best of times

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  • doesn't matter replied on August 19, 2008

    they're missing Chicago and ISTANBUL! duh! and yes.. worst skyline of NY ever..

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  • detarame replied on August 19, 2008

    There are amazing shots up there, but some of your choices are simply baffling.

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  • dimes replied on August 19, 2008

    I liked a lot of the pics, but really, it wasn't that hard to find a few decent and a couple really good nyc skyline pics…..just saying. ” target=”_blank”>http://flickr.com/photos/rutowski/2040279214/size...” target=”_blank”>http://learnsomeshit.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/...” target=”_blank”>http://flickr.com/photos/blypix/2721586069/sizes/...

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  • matt replied on August 19, 2008

    The New York photo isn't even New York — it's New Jersey as seen from NY.

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  • Van guy replied on August 19, 2008

    Same goes for Vancouver.

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  • ddasdasd replied on August 19, 2008

    Did you take these with a disposable camera?

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  • The sky is failing replied on August 19, 2008

    This blog is full of more fail than the Olympic judging staff. Who the hell said a skyline consists of the crosses emerging from the roof of a church? That's a skyline to you? Really? Are you retarded? And that picture of Berlin just takes the cake. "How mesmerizing it is to gaze upon the contours of our structures as they stretch toward the clouds above." That's a sentence that the author wrote in the beginning of this blog, and then she puts a picture of Berlin that has absolutely zero structures reaching towards the seemingly non-existant clouds above. Epic fail.

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  • AD replied on August 19, 2008

    LOL ! London and no Paris ? San Francisco without its bridges (hint: put a picture of SF captured from Tiburon) ? What a joke….

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  • Thomaz replied on August 19, 2008

    WTF??? I live in Miami and i think the skyline does not deserve anywhere near the top! Digg is failing me :'(

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  • Ev replied on August 19, 2008

    Yea, most of these photos suck. C'mon, I've taken better photos of the NYC skyline with my camera phone. The Graz photo isn't really a skyline even.

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  • Jay replied on August 19, 2008

    Call me crazy, but Pittsburgh deserves to be on that list over a few of those. Say what you want about the city, but it's beautiful to look at from the top of Mt. Washington at night.

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  • Henry replied on August 19, 2008

    you missed edinburgh ” target=”_blank”>http://flickr.com/photos/fallenidol/2733371480/in...

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  • M replied on August 19, 2008

    Umm…Dubai? I mean, really.

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  • Kimo replied on August 19, 2008

    awe crap, i thought i was gonna look at some sweet cars

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  • IDB replied on August 19, 2008

    This is a very laughable attempt at skylines. While I will concede that severeal shots do in fact look awesome (Hong Kong and Miami) but the skyline of New York is completely shameful from a photographer. This list is one of the most idiotic attempts at a skyline picture portfolio I have ever seen. Nothing in your examples is even close to a rational skyline. Everyone on the internet is now dumber for reading this blog. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

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  • Mchan replied on August 19, 2008

    Totally agree, Pittsburgh needed to be on that list. Just check out some of the photos on this site: http://www.pittsburghskyline.com/

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  • NastyN8 replied on August 19, 2008

    Yeah i totally agree. And whats up with the Germany pic?? Almost looks like a grave yard. Boo Hoo!

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  • Brian replied on August 19, 2008

    Toronto, with its iconic CN Tower and Skydome blow several of these out of the water. Calgary's not looking too shabby these days either, especially if you get the mountains in the background (eg ” target=”_blank”>http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/es/etb/cetc/combustion/co2...

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  • Brian replied on August 19, 2008

    Er, Calgary again with a working URL: ” target=”_blank”>http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/es/etb/cetc/combustion/co2...

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  • charles yarbrough replied on August 19, 2008

    Thanks that was cool

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  • J replied on August 19, 2008

    the first few are just gorgeous. the rest… not so much. hell, some of them aren't even skylines.

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  • ActionUdo replied on August 19, 2008

    These fotos totally suck! Look at the Berlin picture: where is the skyline? Why aren't images klickable?? WTF?

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  • Mr. Smith replied on August 19, 2008

    What crap. A real insult to every real New Yorker and lover of New York on the planet. And that just covers New York. What planet are you from? Zarkon? The word “shmuck” comes to mind. Or, Psy-Op. Either way: dumb. People hate dumb (and insulting). Please, get smart or get offline.

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  • R replied on August 19, 2008

    What about Seattle? It's better then half those.

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  • 5chmuck replied on August 19, 2008

    u take dese pics wivva Iphone? looks like it ne way Scroll up u see Dimes photos of NY true skline atnight. I'm english, dont like london, think its unfriendly, dirty, hideously over priced, poor transport links, an dangerous if u wander not far from the city centre. All Lononers reading this, guess where in the UK i come from ?

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  • Gus replied on August 19, 2008

    These are absolutely the worst shots of these cities I've ever seen.

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  • Girl from the North replied on August 19, 2008

    That Venice shot sucks. There are no skyscrapers there — would you even consider that a skyline? Also, I notice the absence of Minneapolis on this list — it's way better than half of the cities you've got up there!

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  • mike replied on August 19, 2008

    LOLOLOL No toronto? Terrible list.

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  • Mike from above replied on August 19, 2008

    Your list is fucking horrible. You have some of the WORST pictures ever. Some of them ARENT EVEN SKYLINES. Learn to use the internet. Toronto has one of the nicest most ORIGINAL skylines in the world and you didnt even include it? Venice, Graz, and San Fran arent even skyline pictures; terrible at best. Berlin? Rename this article to "World's most terrible skylines" and I'll agree with you.

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