The New 7 Wonders of the WorldLike a crushed beauty queen, the Statue of Liberty was relegated to the runner’s-up lounge to weep with the Easter Island statues after the “new” seven wonders of the world were revealed over the weekend. Read the winner’s list, though, and you’ll see she had some tough competition. Edged out by the likes of the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, and Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer, she really has nothing to be ashamed of.
Although I’ve been to a lot of wondrous places, I’ve been to only three that made the list: the Roman Coliseum, Chichén Itzá, and, most recently, Machu Picchu.
When I was 17 and participating in a cultural exchange in Mexico, I scrambled up the very steep and very teensy Chichén Itzá pyramid steps without once looking down. At the top, I almost lost my footing--an entire Mayan world was laid out before me, dizzying at the height, staggeringly preserved, and surrounded by miles of untouched Yucatan jungle. I squinted and tried to see all the tourists below as the ancient villagers, and for a second (maybe the vertigo) it actually worked.
Years later, in the crushing heat of a Rome July, I dodged the Vespas to enter the Coliseum. Amid the stands, I thought about what it might have been like during the gladiator days (this was before the Russell Crowe movie) to be swept up in the crowd’s thirst for blood. As someone who won’t even swat a fly, it’s hard to imagine, but context is everything.
When I arrived at Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes, I’d been sick and feeling weak in the thin air. No matter. The mist on the mountains and the precariously perched architecture were exhilarating. I wandered in and out of stone structures where echoes of a once-thriving Incan civilization whispered on the wind of what once was (and no, I don't think that was just my stomach growling).
I’m curious about public reaction to the world’s new list of wonders. Do you agree with the winner's list, or are there other places you’d like to have seen make the cut?
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Comments
I love manmade wonders. After my recent trip Coral Castle in Miami, this summer I'm off to Carhenge in Alliance Nebraska.
To clarify, I think we put too much emphasis on things that are wonderful, and therefore I would nominate the above sites, plus maybe the skewer of cars outside Chicago, the Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage Missouri, or maybe the parasite museum in Tokyo.
Seven Weirdos of the World, anyone?
Or is it just me?
With all of the advances of our modern age, I would think we could expand our list of 'wonders' beyond only 7. Oh well...I guess it's an honor just to be nominated. (BTW, I think that Christ the Redeemer got an unfair bump because it was featured in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet...I wouldn't have picked it over the Acropolis)
Who decides what are the wonders of the world, and why do there only have to be 7 of them?
Hi Rusty, As part of the New7Wonders campaign online, apparently over 100 million votes were tallied from voters around the world. And, actually, if you count the Pyramids of Giza (the only original world wonder that's still standing), then there are 8 wonders. By the way, they're starting to take nominations for what should be on the 7 wonders of the natural world list right now.
I don't know the history behind why the number 7 was chosen. It's just a lucky number, I guess! I do know that the New 7 Wonders Foundation organized this worldwide campaign with the intention of reviving the 7 Wonders of the World concept -- but I don't think these new wonders are really intended to replace the ancient ones. They're just a modern representation of our world heritage, and an ingenious way of drawing attention to many world monuments that are in jeopardy of destruction.
Do you have the link to vote for the wonders of the natural world? My favorite would be the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
Here's the address for the 7 natural wonders contest: http://www.natural7wonders.com/
Hmmm...the list is pretty good, but I would have liked to see it include more things that are wondrous and less...really cool things people built somewhat recently.
I think Easter Island and Stonehenge got robbed. I'm kind of glad Libby, La Tour Eiffel, and the Sydney Opera House didn't make it in, though. They're cool, but they're not a wonder, per se, in my book. I mean, we know how they got there and how they were built (with cranes! and metal!)