The voting finally ended and the New Seven Wonders of the World is announced (which overloaded the new7wonders.com website).
And the winners are:
- Great Wall – China
- Petra – Jordan
- Christ the Redeemer – Brazil
- Machu Picchu – Peru
- Chichen Itza – Mexico
- Colosseum – Italy
- Taj Mahal – India
And retaining its status as one of the original seven wonders, The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
The campaign to pick the seven new wonders was begun in 1999 by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber. His Switzerland-based foundation, called New7Wonders, received almost 200 nominations from around the world. The list of candidates was narrowed down to 21 by early last year. Voting took place over the past six years, but gathered pace only in recent months.
Weber aims to encourage cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments, and inspire people to value their heritage.
His foundation said it would use 50 percent of net revenue from the project to fund restoration efforts worldwide. One of them is a mission to rebuild the giant Bamiyan Buddha statue in Afghanistan, blown up in 2000 by the Taliban regime.
Weber said he was starting a new campaign Sunday to choose the new seven natural wonders of the world.
“If you want to save something, you first have to truly appreciate it,” he told the crowd.
Source: International Herald Tribune
Posted on July 8, 2007
Filed under Everything Travel Related
Tags: 07-07-07, 777, new-seven-wonders
Visited 1223 times, 1 so far today
i wish the Banaue Rice Terraces can be restored so we can nominate it again in the future… oh well
I first learned of the Petra and Machu Picchu in the Tintin books. Who said you won’t learn anything from comics?
Kyameel: Tintin! Yes! lol That’s where I learned most of my world history
hi nina!
i though “The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt” retained its status? bakit wala siya sa list ng new wonders?
Yup, it was retained. So it’s New 7 Wonders + 1 of the original seven wonders
I’m not sure how I feel about the foundation’s goal to fund “restoration efforts” on historic sites. I’ve been to The Great Wall… okay, to one small part of The Great Wall… and it quickly became apparent that this “historic site” was essentially all brand new construction. From certain vantage points, original sections of the wall were visible… as piles of rocks.
Historic sites should be maintained, of course. Even maintenance, however, can be problematic. When I visited Washington, D.C. several years ago, most of the monuments were covered in scaffolding and blue plastic tarpaulins. A “study” was underway on how best to “preserve and restore” the Lincoln Memorial. The study was scheduled to take ten years. The entire monument was originally constructed in less than five! The place is destined to be an eternal construction site, in the name of “maintenance.”
The rambling Moorish castle in Sagunto, Spain, is a similar situation. Parts of it are being “restored” and made “safer” by the liberal application of concrete. The crumbling old ruined sections are quite picturesque; the “restored” sections, complete with metal guardrails, look like cement apartment buildings. It’s sad. I’m glad to have seen it before the “restoration” progresses any further.
If a historic site is rebuilt, is it still the same historic site? Or is it a replica? If an ancient site is reconstructed using modern methods and materials, and made “family-friendly” with guardrails and air-conditioning and electric lighting, is it still an ancient site, or is it a theme-park imitation?
I’ll take crumbling ruins and an interpretive sign over a multi-million dollar restoration, thank you kindly.
Hey Tintin further fueled by desire to travel the world!
I voted for Machu Pichu so I’m happy to see it there. I’m not quite happy with the entire list though, like I can name at least 3 other places more deserving of the spot over the Colliseum.
I think Tintin fueled so many childhood fantasies of traveling. Ooh! Yey! Fellow Tintin fans!!!
Why does Kiyomizu-dera of Japan not even included in the list of winners? Sounds Odd, huhuhu, I really wanted that place to win and be included in the new seven wonders of the world…
Before you add that comment...
I do read each and every comment posted in my blog, and I do try to respond as best as I can to your questions. You may not see me always commenting here, but I do reply via e-mail. Please understand that I am NOT affiliated with any airline, hotel, restaurants or other services featured here, unless otherwise stated. So if you have complaints about them, it would be better if you contact them directly. Often, their contact details can be found in my post.
Add A Comment