New Seven Wonders of the World Chosen

Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only the Great Pyramid of Giza remains. Since a couple thousand years have passed since that list was drawn up, some people thought it was a good idea to create a new one, making allowances for progress and a wider geographical knowledge. Over the week-end, the results of the internet, text and phone voting from around the world were announced. The New Seven Wonders are: The Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Coliseum in Rome, and the Taj Mahal in India.

According to the New7Wonders.com website, “In 1999, Bernard Weber had the vision of reviving the concept of the 7 Wonders of the World. To do so, he founded the non-profit New7Wonders Foundation, which organized this ambitious global campaign to elect the New 7 Wonders of the World. This modern campaign is based on the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, the list compiled by Philon of Byzantium in 200 B.C.” Some 77 sites were considered, and then, narrowed down to 21 from which the people of the world were to choose.

Sites that didn’t make the cut are: The Acropolis, Athens; Hagia Sophia, Istanbul; The Kremlin and St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow; Neuschwanstein Castle, Schwangau, Germany; The Eiffel Tower, Paris; Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom; The Alhambra, Granada, Spain; Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto; Sydney Opera House, Sydney; Angkor, Cambodia; Timbuktu, Mali; The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt (honorary since they were on the old list); The Easter Island Statues, Chile; and The Statue of Liberty, New York City.

The process was not without flaws. The Acropolis and the Statue of Liberty probably ought to be in separate age divisions, and ruins don’t seem to be quite as impressive as those that are still in pretty good shape. There are some places that should have been on the candidate list rather than others; the Louvre is much more impressive than the Eiffel Tower (IM Pei’s pyramid outside the former notwithstanding). Surely the Panama and Suez Canals are wonders of engineering if they are only big ditches lacking the grandeur of the Taj Mahal (which probably made everyone’s list).

Nevertheless, it is important sometimes for the human race to sit down and look at its creations and draw from them a sense of just how much potential the species possesses. Homo Sapiens may have invented gunpowder, Auschwitz and Darfur, but the odd critters also made the Great Wall, Christ the Redeemer and Machu Picchu. While one can’t say that one balances out the others, one can note that creativity has a way of making humanity seem capable of astonishing brilliance. Now, to work on doing so more frequently.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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