Check out the world’s most memorable sights in their awkward phase.

Go back to a time before the Statue of Liberty stood in the bay of New York City, the Eiffel Tower marked the center of Paris, and Christ the Redeemer loomed over Rio. See these historical landmarks long before they made their permanent places in history, when they barely resembled the famous feats of engineering they are today.

Before they were iconic landmarks, these structures were nothing but a blueprint and some scaffolding.