A new, modern list of the seven wonders of the world was released Saturday in a lavish ceremony before an audience of 50,000 at a soccer stadium in Lisbon. The wonders, chosen by about 90 million people casting votes online, by phone and by text message, over a year and a half, include: The Great Wall of China. The Colosseum in Rome.
The Taj Mahal in India. Petra in Jordan. Machu Picchu in Peru.
Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer. Mexico's Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. People celebrate in front of the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in southern Mexico on Saturday, after Chichen Itza was selected as one of the new seven wonders of the world.
The seven beat out 14 other nominated landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island in the Pacific, the Statue of Liberty, the Acropolis of Athens, the Kremlin in Moscow and Australia's Sydney Opera House. There actually will be eight wonders on the list, with the pyramids of Giza — the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world — being allowed to retain their status after indignant Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace they had to compete. The idea for a contest to update the ancient list, drawn up more than 2,000 years ago by Greek writer Antipater of Sidon, came from a private foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland.
The project's founder, Swiss-Canadian filmmaker and adventurer Bernard Weber, said the aim of the contest was to raise awareness of the world's heritage sites and funds to preserve them. Almost 200 nominations came in, and the list was narrowed to the 21 most-voted by the start of 2006. Organizers admit there was no foolproof way to prevent people from voting more than once for their favourite.
Egyptian officials dismissed the contest as nothing more than a commercial affair. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, also distanced itself. It said highlighting the sentimental value of a few sites is not enough and that results of the voting will only reflect the opinions of those with access to the internet.
Portugal's president attended the world wonders ceremony, hosted by Oscar-winning actors Ben Kingsley and Hilary Swank, and Bollywood star Bipasha Basu.
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