Seven 'new' Wonders of the World named Posted on Seven new wonders of the world including the Great Wall of China and the Colosseum in Rome were selected by nearly 100 million Internet and telephone voters overnight upsetting cultural experts. Tourists climb up a dilapidated section of the Great Wall of China LISBON (AFP) - The other wonders named were the Taj Mahal in India, the centuries-old pink ruins of Petra in Jordan, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, and the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico. British actor Ben Kingsley and US actress Hillary Swank hosted the celebrity-studded ceremony at Lisbon's Stadium of Light, which was broadcast in more than 170 countries to an estimated 1.

6 billion viewers. A private Swiss foundation launched the contest in January, allowing voters to choose between 21 sites short-listed from 77 selected by a jury. It said it had gathered nearly 100 million votes by the end of polling at midnight Friday.

Losing out among the frontrunners on the short-listed sites were the Acropolis in Athens, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the statues on Easter Island, and Britain's Stonehenge. The privately-sponsored campaign was the brainchild of Swiss filmmaker and museum curator Bernard Weber. Artists perform during the show to present the New 7 Wonders of the World However, the UN cultural body that designates world heritage sites declined to support the event.

"The list of the seven new wonders will be the result of a private initiative which cannot contribute in any significant or lasting way to the preservation of the elected sites," the Paris-based UNESCO said in a statement last month. The initiative sought to recreate the popularity of the seven wonders of the world of antiquity. Only one of the seven, the Pyramids of Egypt, still stands today -- and it was ruled out of the contest.

The others were: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Asia Minor, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Pharos of Alexandria. The shortlist of 21 was drawn up by a panel of world renowned architects and ex-UNESCO chief Federico Mayor in January last year. They also included the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia; the Alhambra in Granada, Spain; the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul; the Kiyomizu Temple in Japan; the Kremlin and Red Square in Moscow; Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany; New York's Statue of Liberty; Sydney Opera House and the ancient city of Timbuktu in Mali.

Saturday's ceremony was attended by a myriad of stars and celebrities including former astronaut Neil Armstrong, actress and singer Jennifer Lopez, and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates. "It is the first time in history that all the citizens of the world have been able to vote and decide," declared Diogo Freitas do Amaral, chairman of the organizing committee. In China, the televised event was not broadcast, leaving thousands of tourists at the Great Wall unaware of the new designation.

"As usual there are a lot of tourists here today, but I don't think they came here because the Great Wall was chosen as one of the seven wonders of the world," Hu Yang, an official at the Badaling Great Wall near Beijing, told AFP by telephone.