The New 7 Wonders
While it sounds like some sort of gimic ("Come see the all new seven wonders of the world") Bernard Weber has started a competition to find the new seven wonders of the world. For those who don't know, the old seven wonders comprised of (via Wikipedia):
| Wonder | Date | Builder | Destroyed | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Pyramid of Giza | 2550 BC | Egyptians | still standing | still standing |
| Hanging Gardens of Babylon | 600 BC | Babylonians | after 1st century BC | earthquake |
| Temple of Artemis at Ephesus | 550 BC | Lydians, Greeks | 356 BC | fire |
| Statue of Zeus at Olympia | 435 BC | Greeks | 5th-6th centuries AD | fire |
| Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus | 351 BC | Carians, Greeks | by 1494 AD | earthquake |
| Colossus of Rhodes | 292-280 BC | Hellenistic Greece | 224 BC | earthquake |
| Lighthouse of Alexandria | 3rd century BC | Hellenistic Egypt | 1303-1480 AD | earthquake |
Antipater's original list replaced the Lighthouse of Alexandria with the Walls of Babylon. It wasn't until the 6th century AD that the list above was used. Of these wonders, the only one that has survived to the present day is the Great Pyramid of Giza. The existence of the Hanging Gardens has not been definitively proven.
The New Seven Wonders of the World site is trying to identify the top seven new wonders by public vote from a shortlist of 21:
- The Acropolis
- Hagia Sophia
- The Kremlin/St. Basil's
- The Colosseum
- Neu-schwanstein Castle
- The Eiffel Tower
- Stonehenge
- The Alhambra
- The Great Wall of China
- Kiyomizu Temple
- The Sydney Opera House
- Angkor
- The Taj Mahal
- Timbuktu
- Petra
- The Pyramids of Giza
- The Statue of Christ Redeemer
- The Easter Island Statues
- Machu Picchu
- Chichen Itzá
- The Statue of Liberty
That is a tough list to pick from. Obviously I'm biased and I'd like Britain's entry of Stonehenge to win. Obviously you have to include the only survivor of the original list, the Pyramids of Egypt. On the other hand, I'm disappointed something like the Panama Canal or the Hoover Dam didn't make the list. The Great Wall of China is a must, the Hagia Sophia sounds good, I like Machu Picchu, Angkor for pure size if nothing else and I think the final spot has to go to The Acropolis for its recognition alone.
On a related note, Kottke pointed me in the direction of a video from a guy who believes he can show how Stonehenge was built, using simple techniques which would have required a much smaller workforce than is generally imagined.