Ciudad Mitad del Mundo is also known as the “Middle of the World City”. Located north of the center of Quito this monument marks the exact location of the Equator which runs through Ecuador. The structure was built between the years 1979 and 1982. It stands 98 feet tall (38 metre tall) and is part of the Ethnographic Museum Middle of the Earth. The monument was built to commemorate the first Geodesic Mission of the French Academy of Sciences who conducted experiments involving the equator. There was an older monument but it got moved 4.3 miles to a small town called Calacali. The Middle of the World City monument marks the line of the equator and honors the hard work of others.