Tweet
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.
Fact file: The original Seven Wonders
The 'Seven Wonders of the Ancient World' is a widely known list of seven remarkable constructions of classical antiquity.
The historian Herodotus (484 B.C.-ca. 425 B.C.), and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca 305-240 B.C.) at the Museum of Alexandria, made early lists of "seven wonders" but their writings did not survive, except as references.
The list that we know today was compiled in the Middle Ages — by which time many of the sites were no longer inexistence. The list came mostly from ancient Greek writings, sites that would have been known and visited by the ancient Greeks were included.
The list included: The Great Pyramid of Giza, built around 2650-2500 BC as the tomb of fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu, and is still standing.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon built around 600 B.C. Herodotus claimed that the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high. It was destroyed by post-1st century B.C. Earthquake.
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus built 550 B.C. and dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis. Herostratus burned it down in 356 B.C. in an attempt to achieve lasting fame.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia erected 435 B.C. and was 40 feet (12 meters) tall. It was dismantled by Christian rulers during the 5th and 6th centuries to discourage paganism.
The Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus (in what is now south-east Turkey) built 351 B.C. and approximately 45 meters (135 feet) tall with each of the four sides adorned with sculptural reliefs. Origin of the word mausoleum. It was damaged by an earthquake and totally destroyed by A.D. 1494 by European Crusaders.
The Colossus of Rhodes built 292-280 B.C. A giant bronze statue of the Greek god Helios roughly the same size as today’s Statue of Liberty in New York. It was destroyed by a 224 BC earthquake.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria built in 3rd century B.C. Egypt. At between 115 and 135 meters (383 - 440 ft.) tall it was among the tallest man-made structures on Earth for many centuries. It was destroyed between A.D. 1303-1480 by earthquake.
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.
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.
Fact file: The original Seven Wonders
The 'Seven Wonders of the Ancient World' is a widely known list of seven remarkable constructions of classical antiquity.
The historian Herodotus (484 B.C.-ca. 425 B.C.), and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca 305-240 B.C.) at the Museum of Alexandria, made early lists of "seven wonders" but their writings did not survive, except as references.
The list that we know today was compiled in the Middle Ages — by which time many of the sites were no longer inexistence. The list came mostly from ancient Greek writings, sites that would have been known and visited by the ancient Greeks were included.
The list included: The Great Pyramid of Giza, built around 2650-2500 BC as the tomb of fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu, and is still standing.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon built around 600 B.C. Herodotus claimed that the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high. It was destroyed by post-1st century B.C. Earthquake.
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus built 550 B.C. and dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis. Herostratus burned it down in 356 B.C. in an attempt to achieve lasting fame.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia erected 435 B.C. and was 40 feet (12 meters) tall. It was dismantled by Christian rulers during the 5th and 6th centuries to discourage paganism.
The Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus (in what is now south-east Turkey) built 351 B.C. and approximately 45 meters (135 feet) tall with each of the four sides adorned with sculptural reliefs. Origin of the word mausoleum. It was damaged by an earthquake and totally destroyed by A.D. 1494 by European Crusaders.
The Colossus of Rhodes built 292-280 B.C. A giant bronze statue of the Greek god Helios roughly the same size as today’s Statue of Liberty in New York. It was destroyed by a 224 BC earthquake.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria built in 3rd century B.C. Egypt. At between 115 and 135 meters (383 - 440 ft.) tall it was among the tallest man-made structures on Earth for many centuries. It was destroyed between A.D. 1303-1480 by earthquake.
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.
Comment