The New Seven Wonders of the World

The Seven Wonders of the World became the Fourteen Wonders of the World in 2007—seven ancient, and seven new. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World have been around for quite a long time; most of them no longer even exist, and so many felt it was high time to pay homage to other incredible wonders that Earth has to offer, which have come along since the naming of the original Seven.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World include the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum of Mausolus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. These Seven Wonders were mentioned as such by several ancient authors and travelers, and many today who witness the Pyramids in Egypt agree that at least that one-seventh of the Ancient Wonders is worthy of the list, though the remaining six were all destroyed before modern times (the Hanging Gardens were destroyed during BC times). However, the people of this Earth have continued to build and to impress, so a new list of Seven (architectural) Wonders was deemed, voted on by the public since 1999, when Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber began a campaign to choose seven new wonders.

The new Seven Wonders were announced two years ago on 07/07/07, and include the Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Chichen Itza pyramid in Mexico, the Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, the Colosseum in Rome, and the Taj Mahal in India.

Now, however, the same campaign has been launched to find the Seven Wonders of Nature, to be announced in 2011. You can see the 28 semifinalists and vote here.