And the winners are:

1. Great Wall – China
2. Petra – Jordan
3. Christ the Redeemer – Brazil
4. Machu Picchu – Peru
5. Chichen Itza – Mexico
6. Colosseum – Italy
7. 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