Okay… I have to admit that when I first read about this, I took a bit of the “Who cares” stance. But, apparently, there is an international initiative to select Seven New Wonders of the World. Not new as in recently constructed, but new as in newly deemed “wonder-worthy”. This is where my ignorance comes into play… I didn’t realise that most the original ancient seven wonders of the world no longer exist. They were…
- the Temple of Artemis;
- the Hanging Gardens of Babylon;
- the Colossus of Rhodes;
- the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus;
- the Lighthouse at Alexandria;
- the Pyramids at Giza; and
- the Statue of Zeus.
Of these, only the ancient Pyramids at Giza are still in the game.
According to documentation on the official vote-for-the-new-seven website, www.new7wonders.com, the original seven were all man-made monuments, selected by one man, Philon of Byzantium in 200 BC, and therefore all from the pre 200 BC eras. All seven wonders were apparently within travelling distance of the Mediterranean Sea covering, literally, the whole world as the people of his place and time knew it.
Now, instead of one man determining what the worlds seven wonder should be, a team of people (primarily historians and architects, I think) origianlly considered over 200 possible new man-made wonders that they have managed to widdle down to a fierce 21 potential candidates. Any and all structures/monuments pre-2000 AD were considered, including our dear ol’ pyramids.
The potential candidates for the New Seven Wonders of the World are…
- The Acropolis;
- Alhambra;
- Angkor;
- Chichen Itzá;
- Christ Redeemer;
- The Colosseum;
- Easter Island;
- Eiffel Tower;
- Great Wall of China;
- Hagia Sophia;
- Kiyomizu Temple;
- Kremlin;
- Machu Picchu;
- Neuschwanstein Castle;
- Petra;
- Pyramids of Giza;
- Statue of Liberty;
- Stonehenge;
- Sydney Opera House;
- Taj Mahal; and
- Timbuktu.
Now, I’m not going to pretend to think I’m the right person to be deciding something of this magnitude (semicolon) however (comma) in the spirit of the reality TV shows of the world… we the viewers get to vote. That’s right we can all go to www.new7wonders.com and vote for seven that we feel ought to be honoured. I’m not sure why the Pyramids are included included in the selection process… this whole thing should be called “Okay, So We Have One of the Original Seven Wonders Still in Existence… Help Us Pick the Other Six. Thanks.”
So, after all that, for what it’s worth, here are steelie’s picks for the Seven New Wonders of the World:
- Pyramids of Giza (big surprise);
- Easter Island;
- the Great Wall of China;
- the Acropolis of Greece;
- the Roman Colosseum;
- Petra, Jordan; and
- Stonehenge.
The final New Seven, will be revealed on the seventh day, of the seventh month, of the seventh year, of second millenium (wait a sec… seventh… seventh… seventh… second… AH CRAP). Okay never mind… they will be announced on July 7, 2007. Which, also happens to be the day (Muggles rejoice) that next installment of the Harry Potter movies comes out… which, oddly, has a storyline closely tied to… THE NUMBER SEVEN!
Okay… new seven:
Pyramids of Giza (big surprise);Hogwarts;- Easter Island;
- the Great Wall of China;
- the Acropolis of Greece;
- the Roman Colosseum;
- Petra, Jordan; and
- Stonehenge.
There. That’s better.
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steelie
Your entire thought process, especially near the end, is pretty awesome, Steelie. Too bad Hogwarts wasn't on the list. Bah.
I was extremely happy to see that Stonehenge is on the list. That would be my number one choice. I'd have to think about the others though.
The whole idea of picking the new Seven Wonders is a bit… odd to me, but it's still interesting to think about.
I read something in a waiting room magazine recently about some of these wonders (new and old) and how un-wonderful they are to visit. Because most of these places are THE tourist attractions for rich Westerners who want to experience something *exoitic*, they're overrun with tourist, mess and a whole lot of curio shops targeted at said tourists. Sad, really. But, that said, I have some travelling to do! I haven't seen a single thing on the second list (of course it would be difficult to see most of what's on the first) even…yes, it's true…the Taj Mahal! I lived in India and I didn't see the Taj Mahal everybody! I admit it. Why bother? I knew it would be swarming with people and it's waaay off the beaten (train) path. Meh, isn't seeing it in a photograph enough ;)Thanks buddy, interesting to learn!
Ok… I thought there where 7 Wonders of the Ancient World and 7 Wonders of the Modern World. So if we are picking 6 replacement wonders wouldn't they be of the the ancient world? Thus leaving out the Eiffel Tower… the Statue of Liberty.. the Sydney Opera House…. and really… Hogwarts would then have to be a modern wonder too wouldn't it? Or would it?Or are there not really two lists? and some one has lied to me?
Thanks 😉 I was happy Stonehendge was on the list too… It wasn’t my number one… mostly because like KeyLimeTwist, I thought there were already Seven Ancient Wonders… so, I just picked the ones I thought were already there plus the others I thought should be, like Stonehendge.
I can imagine how un-wonderful these places have become. Lady “T” told me that when she saw Stonehendge, (as much as I might like it) it had a fence keeping people really far away from it and still there was graffiti covering parts if it… super.You bring up a good point with that too… is this renewed interest in the “fab-seven” going to encourage more of this ruining the Wonders, figuratively and literally? I imagine whichever seven are selected will become tourist hotspots in a heartbeat… some of those places look quite remote tucked away in lush natural locations… say goodbye to the lovely foliage, we’re putting in a McDonalds.I’d be interested to see what the other 200+ sites were.
KeyLimeTwist… I used to think the exact same thing as you. Could have sworn that there were two lists too… we’ve both been lied to. My list of seven isn’t that original… it’s mostly the ones I thought were there already. There are Seven Natural Wonders of the World too aren’t there? Hmmm… more research to do.I think Hogwarts would be older than the Eiffel Tower, and the Statue of Liberty (which are oddly both French creations) and would likely fall closer in comparison to the castles on the shortlist.
seriously, i was looking at the page when you did the hogwarts thing. i went back to look and it had changed. har har.
I would swear I had replied to this again earlier.. but I'm all hopped up on cold medication so who knows I might have dreamt it up..Here is what wikipedia has to say, there are all kinds of 7 wonders lists….