New Seven Wonders

The Seven Wonders of the World are well-known to most people, although few of us could actually name each monument.

But in 1999, Swiss businessman Bernard Weber decided the world needed a more modern list of wonders, ones still standing. He formed the New Open World Corporation to conduct the competition, and invited input from people around the world. The criteria were that the structures had to be manmade, completed by 2000 and in an “acceptable” state of preservation. Half of the corporation’s profits will go to preserving world heritage sites. A panel of experts was struck and includes architect Cesar Pelli—designer of Canary Wharf in London and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia—and the former director-general of UNESCO, Federico Mayor Zaragoza.

By November, 2005, the list had been narrowed down to 177 finalists. And on January 1, 2007, the 21 finalists were announced. Voting will continue up to July 7, when the seven winners will be announced.

The 21 finalists are:
1. The Acropolis, Greece; 2.The Alhambra, Spain; 3. Angkor Wat Temple, Cambodia; 4. Chichen Itza Aztec site, Mexico; 5. Christ the Redeemer statue, Rio de Janeiro; 6. Colosseum, Rome; 7. Easter Island Statues, Chile; 8. Eiffel Tower, Paris; 9. Great Wall, China; 10. Hagia Sophia Church, Istanbul; 11. Kyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan; 12. The Kremlin, St. Basil’s, Moscow; 13. Machu Picchu, Peru; 14. Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany; 15. Petra ancient city, Jordan; 16. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt; 17. Statue of Liberty, USA; 18. Stonehenge, Britain; 19. Sydney Opera House, Australia; 20. Taj Mahal, India; and 21. Timbuktu city, Mali.

Vote in the contest and find out more details on the finalists at www.new7wonders.com. Or vote in Outpost’s own version of the competition. Which of the 21 finalists do you think should be named the new wonders of the world? Send us your seven picks. Readers whose lists most closely match the ones chosen on July 7 will win a prize.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 9:18 pm and is filed under Under-reported. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. Add to del.icio.us.