The New Seven Wonders of the World
Posted Sunday, July 08, 2007, 9:30 PM by Lonely Planet
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are out and the Taj Mahal is in as the world is introduced to the "new seven wonders" in a contest run by the private NewOpenWorld Foundation. The campaign which aimed to update the original list of wonders, drawn up about 200BC, attracted more than 100 million votes for the world's top architectural marvels.
The Sydney Opera House and New York's Statue of Liberty didn't make the final cut, neither did traveller favourites such as Angkor Wat. The biggest surprise however, was the Pyramids of Giza - the only wonder remaining from the original list - failed to make the grade.
The New Seven Wonders of the World
Great Wall of China
Taj Mahal, India
Petra, Jordan
Colosseum, Rome
Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro
Machu Picchu, Peru
Chichen Itza, Mexico
What's your opinion of the new list? Is your favourite "wonder of the world" missing? Tell us what you think.
Labels: Travelsnitch
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10 Comments:
Personally I can't believe Angkor Wat is not on the list! It's hands down one of my favourite "man made marvels" ... top travel moment ever, watching the sunset over the ruins with a cold Angkor beer. Bliss!
I don't know what to think of this show. Okay, it's good to let the people chose for themselves, what wonders they want. But then a lot of real wonders were left out and it came out to which country could mobilize it's population best for voting.
Some smaller truly gems were kicked out right away, but maybe that's even a good thing....
Cheers from Bali,
Chris
Life is what you make it!
http://www.nomad4ever.com
a vote is a vote is a vote, and I guess we have to respect it at the end of the day. Mobilisation or otherwise. It is just a great shame that the whole exercise had to be undertaken to being with. What did happen to those original wonders. If they were so wonderous why did the world not conspire to maintain them a bit better!
If anything else, this get's me really excited to go out and see the wonders of the world (on this list and otherwise). For every Chichen Itza, there is a Palenque or Teotihuacan that are arguably just as impressive.
I also like the alternate lists that are popping up out there, such as this one with a tech twist:
Seven Wonders of the Tech World.
The pyramids want a recount! There were hanging chads!
Note: comment that Pyramids of Giza did not make the cut is incorrect; pyramids were in running, Egyptian officials contested their inclusion (calling the very idea of declassifying the pyramids "ridiculous"), and the contest organizers retired the pyramids from the available options to serve as granddaddy of the seven wonders.
Although all the sites are wonderful, the way that the new 7 were selected is flawed because:
1) you can't fairly compare sites if you haven't visited them all (folks were forced to vote for 7, even if they hadn't been to 7)
2) most people voted for sites in their home country (massive campaigns were launched by several governments) for the obvious touristic and other economic interests
3) some people's votes were weighed more than others, based on purchases made on the website
So glad to see Petra, Jordan make it on the list...by far the most impressive place i have been to. beats the pyramids hands down!
well well well...i think it is better
to have it more than seven wonders of
the world so that people are exposed to all those interesting and special places...
Its true that each of the sites classified as wonders have specialties of their own. no voting or contests would be able to pick one better than the other. even in ancient times. the seven structures classified as wonders never coexisted . but the structures will actually benefit from all this buzz atleast there will be more awareness and that will lead to better preservation of the structues.
The
21 Finalist Candidates for the New Seven Wonders
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