Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.
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Each stone of the Segovia Aqueduct is perfectly shaped to fit tightly with the next. It was in use from antiquity all the way up to 1973. And what you see here is just the city's visible portion — it starts 11 miles away in the mountains... 
When Augustus slowed the expansion of the empire, wealth stopped flowing from conquered lands into the treasury. Managing expenditures (construction, armies, bureaucracy) became increasingly difficult. 
Barcelona's Sagrada Familia is proof that intergenerational construction is still alive. When complete, it will be the world's second tallest religious building of any kind.
Trump's "Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture" executive order would've prevented brutalist blocks like the FBI HQ if it existed in 1965.
And another example. Façades (and much more) all across the city are being brought back to life.
1348 usually comes up in answer to this question. The Black Death wiped out half of Europe's population, but the sheer loss of life was only the beginning... 
Many of history's great libraries were lost to time: the Library of Alexandria, Baghdad's House of Wisdom, the Library of Pergamum. These were enormous, with estimates in the hundreds of thousands of scrolls... 
Edmund Burke defined "sublime art" as that which produces the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling — capturing immeasurable greatness.
Art Deco in the '20s and '30s was about the fusion of the classical and modern worlds. It took designs from great past civilizations (Greece, Rome, Mesoamerica, Asia) and fused them with modern forms. 
In 1804, legendary poet William Blake asked:
Largely sparred from WW2 bombs, Prague is a time capsule of architectural movements — from Gothic to Art Nouveau. A thousand years of history is condensed into a few square miles... 
1,200 years ago, the world's largest city was Baghdad (modern-day Iraq) — 1.5 million lived there at its peak. The Round City, a masterpiece of urban planning, contained one of history's greatest libraries. 
A 19th century wonder of the romantic age. Unusual because although it looks formidable, it was not built as a fortress — but as a family memorial for the House of Hohenzollern. 
The illusionistic frescoes of the Church of St. Ignatius are every bit as majestic as the Sistine Chapel — Pozzo's 17th century genius opened flat ceilings to the heavens. The "dome" he painted is actually flat... 
Such skill at that age seems unthinkable. In fact, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was pretty well a master by 15. How? 
At the turn of the 20th century, American cities transformed swathes of their centers into huge architectural displays — all for great exhibitions called the World's Fairs... 
The Salvator Mundi, supposedly a lost da Vinci, shocked the world in 2017 when it fetched $400m at auction (plus $50m fees) — the highest ever.
The most beautiful library ever built in the US, with towering cast-iron book alcoves. An institution since 1874, it was demolished in 1955 and the library moved to a new site with more space. Today, a parking garage stands in its place. 
Last year, this grotesque metal statue was unveiled in Boston — to the bemusement of taxpayers who had unwittingly contributed to its $10m budget… 
1. Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ (1954)
The German city of Dresden was a jewelry box of Baroque beauty — once known as the Florence of the Elbe. This is how it looked at the turn of the 20th century: 