History Main / LandmarkOfLore

* ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'' features Shangri-La with Yetis. Then the Great Wall becomes a bonus Landmark of Lore.

** And at the beginning of the first one, you had '''[[SomewhereThisIndexIsCrying Thebes with pyramids]]''', which seemed kinda mystical. [[HollywoodAtlas Apparently]], [[RealPlaceBackground Giza and Thebes]] [[MixAndMatchCritters were united]] to create a nice LandmarkOfLore.

Sometimes these locations will be turned into a WeaponizedLandmark. Compare RuinsForRuinsSake and TempleOfDoom, which may overlap. Probably the result of SmallReferencePools and as such is the Sister Trope to PublicDomainArtifact. A Landmark of Lore is often the subject of AlternateLandmarkHistory.

* ''[[NexusWar Nexus Clash]]'' has an in-universe example: Anything that qualified as a Landmark of Lore in its mortal world immediately became a mystical PlaceOfPower as soon as the apocalypse started, thus making this trope apply on the setting retroactively.

* In one episode of ''KeroroGunsou'', Keroro and Fuyuki learn that the Great Pyramid of Giza, Stonehenge, Machu Picchu and Easter Island were all built by aliens...but as tourist traps. The Pyramid was a haunted house, Stonehenge was a giant solar-powered camp stove, Machu Picchu was the site of a roller coaster, and Easter Island is a giant whack-a-mole game.

* ''TheGoodies'' however are less than impressed by this great British achievement.
-->'''Bill:''' Stonehenge, what a great waste of money that was. TWO THOUSAND YEARS IT'S BEEN THERE! Still doesn't fly.
** In another episode, after expressing skepticism that there's anything unusual about Stonehenge, Graeme fails to notice there's a UFO behind him that's using it as a fuel station.

* {{Area 51}} - What is the U.S. government hiding in the Nevada desert?

These are the places where people are almost eager to believe almost anything could be found, so many tales swirl around them. Mostly they are either places rich in history, which have been the centre of stories for centuries, or places remote enough that the audience knows little about them.

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* The Great Pyramid of Giza - Famous Egyptian landmark with a number of astronomically significant features. Last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World to still survive.

* [[CircleOfStandingStones Stonehenge]] - Ascribed all sorts of mystic powers, usually ''completely ignoring'' all the other stone circles around Europe.

* Stonehenge - Ascribed all sorts of mystic powers, usually ''completely ignoring'' all the other stone circles around Europe.

* El Dorado - Fabled land of gold.

''With a dragon's face"''\\
--'''''[[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap Spinal Tap]]''''', "Stonehenge"

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}'', Stonehenge is the secret burial site of a [[AWizardDidIt perfectly preserved]] ''{{Merlin}}''. (Yes, {{Merlin}}). He then wakes up shortly after his discovery to help the Centurions dispatch the [[MonsterOfTheWeek villain of the week]].

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}'', Stonehenge is the secret burial site of a [[AWizardDidIt perfectly preserved]] ''Merlin''. (Yes, Merlin). He then wakes up shortly after his discovery to help the Centurions dispatch the [[MonsterOfTheWeek villain of the week]].

* Used in the RPG ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'': great landmarks like Stonehenge or the Statue of Liberty are called Touchstones, which allow someone to go from the landmark to a place in the Overworld, and then from there to any other point that resonates with that same place. For instance, one could go from Stonehenge in England to the Great Henge, and then go from the Great Henge to ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carhenge Carhenge]]''. Why Carhenge? Because it's the funniest replica of Stonehenge, and it's mentioned explicitly in the book's description of Touchstones.
** Carhenge is funnier than Foamhenge?

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', an evil cult called Magisters attempt to use Stonehenge as a magical weapon of mass destruction. [[spoiler:After performing their rituals, they find the structure does absolutely nothing magical. They leave too early to learn that they were WrongGenreSavvy; Stonehenge is actually connected to aliens.]]

* ''{{Earthbound}}'' had the alien servants of the BigBad build an ElaborateUndergroundBase beneath Stonehenge for apparently no reason.

* ''IllusionOfGaia'' had several mythical locations as special landmarks in the game - the Nazca lines, the Great Wall, Angkor Wat and even the TowerOfBabel.
* ''ShiningForce II'' had an [[LostTechnology ancient spaceship]] that had the same outline as the Nazca painting.

* [[ShamgriLa Shangri-La]] - Home of mysterious monks.

** There are two pyramids at the Giza Necropolis that occur often, the Pyramid of Khufu (formerly largest, by 2 feet) and the Pyramid of Khephren (currently the largest and best preserved one). Regardless of which one it's in, the film will never show the sprawl of [[{{Cairo}} Giza]]--the world's second-largest suburb after [[UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}} Yokohama]].

* ''TheOmegaStone'' is essentially a World Tour of these things.

* The Great Pyramid of Giza - Famous Egyptian landmark with a number of astronomically significant features.

* Long-dormant aliens burst out of the ground in one ''DanDare'' comic. British comic? LandmarkOfLore? Where else but Stonehenge? (Which, in the future, has been surrounded by development. That doesn't entirely make sense.)

* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', the Stargate itself was located inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Until it was taken out into the desert and buried, that is.

* The old Lucasarts game ''ZakMccrackenAndTheAlienMindbenders'', heavily steeped in AncientAstronauts material, feature all sorts of landmarks that are more than they seem.

* In Futurama, the [[MonsterOfTheWeek villain of the week]], used the pyramids of Giza as a Monopole to send the Earth's rotational energy directly back to his homeworld.