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Global vote picks new seven wonders of the world
LISBON, Portugal: Monuments in three Latin American countries were named among the new seven wonders of the world Saturday. Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer, Peru's Machu Picchu, and Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid were chosen alongside the Great Wall of China, Jordan's Petra, the Colosseum in Rome and India's Taj Mahal.
The sites were selected according to a tally of around 100 million votes cast by people around the world over the Internet and by cell phone text messages, the nonprofit organization that conducted the poll said.
Among the places left out were the Acropolis in Athens, Greece; the Statues of Easter Island, Chile; Cambodia's Angkor; Turkey's Hagia Sophia; and Russia's Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral.
Those major attractions were on the shortlist of 21 before the announcement of the results at a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Great Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world, kept their status in addition to the new seven.
The new architectural marvels were presented during a show which included appearances by American actress Hilary Swank, Indian actress Bipasha Basu, and British actor Ben Kingsley, as well as performances by Jennifer Lopez and Jose Carreras.
Macchu Piccu's award was picked up by a Peruvian man in national costume who held the award up to the sky and then bowed to the crowd with his hands clasped, eliciting one of the biggest cheers of the night.
Many in the 50,000-member audience at a soccer stadium jeered when the United States' Statue of Liberty was announced as one of the candidates. Portugal was broadly opposed to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard, pilot of the first hot-air balloon to fly nonstop around the world, announced one of the winners and briefly hijacked proceedings when he made an appeal for people to combat climate change and stand up for human rights before being ushered off the stage.
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.
The organizers conceded there was no foolproof way to prevent people from voting more than once for their favorite. They claimed votes came in from every country in the world.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, keeps updating its own list of World Heritage Sites, which now totals 851 places.
However, Paris-based UNESCO distanced itself from the seven wonders ballot, saying it reflected only the opinion of those who voted.
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.
The original list of seven architectural marvels was collated by a variety of observers of the ancient Mediterranean and the Middle East.
However, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharos lighthouse off Alexandria in Egypt have all vanished.
The Associated Press
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Here are the 21 finalists. The new 7 wonders of the world will be announced in Lisbon, Portugal tonight. Watch this space for updates...
The finalists are:
Acropolis of Athens
(Civilization, Democracy)
Alhambra, Spain(Dignity, Dialogue)
Angkor Wat, Cambodia(Beauty, Sanctity)
Statue of Liberty, New York City(Generosity, Hope)
**Chichen Itza, Yucatán, Mexico(Worship, Knowledge)
**Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil(Welcoming, Openness)
**Colosseum, Rome, Italy(Joy, Suffering)
Easter Island Moais, Easter Island, Chile(Mystery, Awe)
Eiffel Tower, Paris, France(Challenge, Progress)
**Great Wall, China(Perseverance, Persistence)
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey(Faith, Respect)
Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan(Clarity, Serenity)
Kremlin Red Square, Moscow, Russia(Fortitude, Symbolism)
**Machu Picchu, Cuzco, Perú(Community, Dedication)
Neuschwanstein Castle, Füssen, Germany(Fantasy, Imagination)
**Petra, Jordan(Engineering, Protection)
Stonehenge, Amesbury, UK(Intrigue, Endurance)
Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia(Abstraction, Creativity)
**Taj Mahal, Agra, India(Love, Passion)
Timbuktu, Mali(Intellect, Mysticism)
*(Honorary Candidate)Pyramids of Giza, Egypt(Immortality, Eternity)
*The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in a press release on June 20, 2007 reaffirmed that it has no link with the initiative, which it says would reflect "only the opinions of those with access to the internet".
A paragraph from the press release reads "There is no comparison between Mr Weber’s mediatised campaign and the scientific and educational work resulting from the inscription of sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The list of the 7 New Wonders of the World will be the result of a private undertaking, reflecting only the opinions of those with access to the internet and not the entire world. This initiative cannot, in any significant and sustainable manner, contribute to the preservation of sites elected by this public."
Some in Egypt see it as competition to the status of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the only surviving monument of the original Ancient Wonders. "This is probably a conspiracy against Egypt, its civilization and monuments," wrote editorialist Al-Sayed al-Naggar in a leading state-owned daily. Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni said the project was "absurd" and described its creator, Weber, as a man "concerned primarily with self-promotion". Nagib Amin, an Egyptian expert on World Heritage Sites, has pointed out that "in addition to the commercial aspect, the vote has no scientific basis."
After the complaints from Egypt, the pyramid was given special status and removed from the voting list. From the Web site: "The New7Wonders Foundation designates the Pyramids of Giza — the only remaining of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World — as an Honorary New7Wonders Candidate, and removed it from the voting."
Source: Wikipedia
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**These are the New 7 Wonders of the World.
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