Most of the official Seven Wonders of the World have disappeared. Most people probably couldn’t even name them. Because of this, Bernard Weber, a Swiss-Canadian filmmaker and aviator decided that a new seven wonders list should be established for existing pieces of architecture. He created the site new7wonders.com to allow people to begin to vote on which pieces of architecture around the world are worthy of these top seven positions. Since then, 70 million votes have been cast narrowing the choices down to 21. This weekend, the winning list will be revealed on Saturday, July 7. So far, a shoo-in is the Taj Mahal because of a national campaign in India. The ranking of the top seven will be kept a secret. The contenders include:
Acropolis - Athens, Greece
Alhambra- Granada, Spain
Angkor -Cambodia
Chichen Itza -Yucatan, Mexico
Christ Redeemer - Rio de Janiero
Colossuem - Rome
Easter Island Statues -Chile
Eiffel Tower -Paris
Great Wall - China
Hagia Sophia- Istanbul
Kiyomizu Temple -Kyoto, Japan
Kremlin/St. Basil-Moscow
Machu Picchu -Peru
Neuschwanstein Castle- Germany
Petra - Jordan
Pyramids of Giza - Egypt
Statue of Liberty -New York
Stonehenge -England
Sydney Opera House -Australia
Taj Mahal -Agra, India
Timbuktu -Mali
The original Seven Wonders of the world were chosen by Antipater of Sidon who based his list on travelers such as Herodotus and Callimachus. They included:
The Great Pyramid of Giza - Cairo, Egypt
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon - east bank of the River Euphrates, Baghdad, Iraq
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia- 150 km west of Athens, Olympia, Greece
The temple of Artemis at Ephesus- ancient Ephesus, Izmar, Turkey
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus- ancient Halicarnassus, Bodrum, Turkey
The Colossus of Rhodes -Rhodes, Greece
The Lighthouse of Alexandria - ancient Pharos, Alexandria, Egypt
For related articles visit http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/list.html and http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/article2021640.ece .
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16 users commented in " New Seven Wonders of the World to be Announced "
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United States: Megan Fox
(*chuckle*)
It is interesting to note that 5 of the original 7 wonders are affiliated with Ancient Greek civilization. Hopefully the Acropolis will be included in the new top 7. For those of you who have never seen it, it is so fantastic it takes your breath away!
What about ‘Bert Newton’s Hair’!!
Taj mahal , India should be in the first placeamoung the seven wounders of the world because it is made up of marbles stone
The Pyramids of Giza should “not” be pulled out of the votation. Due to egyptian criticism and egotism, It cannot be on the final list of the New 7 wonders list.
Taj Mahal for me just doesn’t seem fit as a new seven wonder.
The great Taj Mahal is the most creative wonder which is different from other wonders. So it is
top most of all.
Still holding a torch for Petra!
Fingers crossed
Some of the 21 finalist have no business being on the list. Candidates like the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, and Christ the Redeemer are not wonders. A wonder should be just that, a wonder. There’s no wonder behind some of the candidates, especially since some of them are still relatively young.
TAJMAHAL MUST BE ONE OF THE SEVEN WONDERS
bECAUSE IT SIGNIFIES LOVE SYMBOL
Taj Mahal!!!!!!!! It is has to be one of the 7 wonders of the world because it is the most thoughtful and lovable thing that anyone has done for another human being. It also signifies love which is different from the other wonders of the world.
I cannot wait to see the results
I am absolutely dumbfounded that the Acropolis was not included with the top 7!! Shows how silly this competition was. You cannot have a popular vote on something like this. The average Joe knows nothing about artistic merit, architecture, and historical significance.
How far will business people go to create new shady business schemes to achieve their financial and other goals? This is the real wonder of the world we live in today.
Fooling the “mob” by the million must be the new “gift of the Internet” to such business absurdity and for business people play with world heritage to benefit the few.
On the other hands, this is how business people of some kind live and we may excuse them, but for governments of some of the developing nations to aggressively take part in this business fiasco and queue their citizen free of charge to vote in favour of their own monuments, is really beyond belief if not truly sad.
By merely being included in such business scheme could on the long run for certain damage the reputation of these newly chosen so called wonders of the world, because this is the natural destiny for any flowed business scheme.
Have you heard or seen any developed nation’s government like the USA, United Kingdom, France, Greece raise any complaint or participate in such a scheme? why? not because these are great nations, not at all… their confidence, calm, long term vision is what made them great in the first place. They are not fooled like the governments of other developing nations into such schemes that will certainly damage these newly selected wonders on the long term.
As for the Great Pyramid of Giza, I don’t believe that it needed any defending by the Egyptian Government whatsoever. The Great Pyramid not only stood the ravages of time for thousands of years by invaders, business people, destroyers, tanks, guns, but also kept its wonder and secrets hidden for eternity. For 10500 years, this great monument refused to disclose to any one as to who build it, how, why and when. I guess this is why it is called the greatest wonder on the planet.
There are many amazing places all over the world. Wonders that will be wonders for eternity when maintained and preserve. Hope the next generations will still have a sight for these wonders , whether recognized or not.
ok its nice to see and know the seven wonders. bare in mind that those things those land marks its just not form their country but the whole people in the world because it created by GOD not by human
Taj Mahal is one of the biggest monument in the world because it signifies the true love in the world
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