MyWestworld

What A Wonderful World

Posted on 31. May, 2008 by Kerry Banks in Travel Blog

We no longer need worry about remembering the names of the seven ancient wonders of the world. In case you hadn’t heard, that dusty septet has been replaced by seven new wonders, which were selected last year in a popularity poll. The seven wonders of the ancient world were first named more than 2,000 years ago by an obscure Greek engineer named Philo. In a fitting modern twist, the new seven wonders were chosen in a vote conducted via the Internet and by cellphone text messages. The contest was organized by the New7Wonders Foundation—the brainchild of Canadian-Swiss filmmaker, aviator and businessman Bernard Weber—in order to “protect humankind’s heritage across the globe.” Evidently the concept struck a popular chord. All told, nearly 100 million ballots were cast.

The non-profit New7 Wonders Foundation, which Weber established in 2001, claims it is committed to investing 50 percent of excess revenue in global good causes related to monument preservation and reconstruction. It has relied on private donations, the sale of merchandise such as T-shirts and cups, and revenue from selling broadcasting rights to obtain funds. The foundation’s first foray in large-scale marketing was a complicated and often contentious venture. The multi-stage process to select the seven new wonders lasted several years. To be included among the nominees, all the wonders had to be man made, completed before 2000, and in an acceptable state of preservation. By November 25, 2005, there were 177 monuments up for consideration. A panel of experts, many of whom were architects, then narrowed the list to 21 sites from which the public selected the top seven.

The contest sparked a wide spectrum of reactions. Some countries enthusiastically touted their finalist. Brazil’s President Lula de Silva addressed his people on radio telling them how to vote for Rio’s statue of Christ the Redeemer, while the government of Peru opened computer terminals in public places and exhorted its citizens to vote for the ancient city of Machu Pichu. Other nations downplayed or criticized the contest. After supporting the New7Wonders Foundation at the beginning of the campaign, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) distanced itself from the undertaking in 2007, slamming the project as unscientific and undemocratic. “This initiative cannot, in any significant and sustainable manner, contribute to the preservation of sites elected by the public,” UNESCO said in a statement.

Egypt was especially outspoken in its opposition to the contest, perhaps because it heard that the Great Pyramid of Giza–the only surviving member of the original seven wonders of the world–was not among the frontrunners in the voting. Egypt’s leading antiquities expert haughtily proclaimed that the pyramids are a “symbol of the genius of the ancient people”–and therefore were above any sort of online poll. As a result of Egypt’s protests, the organizers struck a compromise–the Great Pyramids were granted honorary status, in addition to the new seven wonders.

Which landmarks came out on top? The super seven include India’s Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Jordan’s ancient city of Petra, the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, the Colosseum in Rome, the Maya city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico and the 38-metre-tall Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Not surprisingly all of them are major tourist attractions. Left out in the cold were such marvels as Moscow’s Kremlin, Greece’s Acropolis, Sydney’s Opera House and Cambodia’s Angkor Wat.

After the winners were unveiled at a star-studded gala at Lisbon’s Benfica Stadium, Weber boldly stated that he plans to send three-dimensional photo data of the new seven wonders burned onto a golden compact disc or an iPod into outer space. “I think it would be worthwhile to conserve this memory at the beginning of the third millennium in the best possible way and make sure that even if the world gets destroyed, it will be retained somewhere.” Weber said the disc might be fired into space by a rocket, but did not offer any details on how or when this will happen.

Whether you agree with the choices or their method of selection, there is little doubt that the ancient seven wonders were due for an update. Not only can very few people recall their names–Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Colossus of Rhodes, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and Lighthouse of Alexandria—they were a distinctly Mediterranean compilation. Six of them suffered ignoble fates—leveled by earthquakes, destroyed by fire, or sacked by invading armies, leaving the world virtually wonderless.

The organizers of the 2007 competition stated that their aim was to use part of the revenue from merchandise and broadcast sales and use of the voters’ database to set up, or contribute to various restoration projects in the world. After the final results were tallied, however, New7Wonders said it didn’t earn anything from the exercise and barely recovered its investments.

One has to question the accuracy of that claim, as the New7Wonders Foundation is now organizing another contest—this one to select the world’s greatest seven natural wonders. Suggestions are already posted by continent on the foundation’s web site (www.new7wonders.com/). Internet voting will continue to the end of 2008. In early 2009, the 77 sites that have amassed the most votes will go before a panel of experts, which will choose the 21 finalists. People will then be able to vote by the Web, text message or phone, on the final seven. The winners will be announced in late 2010.

More than 300 suggestions from six continents have been received so far. The Amazon Rainforest, the Northern Lights, Mount Everest, the Great Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon, Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands and Australia’s Ayers Rock, are just some of the main contenders. According to Weber, the new natural wonders should be places with striking natural beauty. As he told the Associated Press, “The closer we bring the beauty of our planet to the people, the more likely they will say, ‘Oh, we have to do something to conserve it.’”