Just a Phone Call Away to Seven Wonders of the World
Jan. 3, 2005 — -- We've all probably heard of them, but few of us can list the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Colossus of Rhodes and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon may ring bells in more erudite ears, but with only one on the original list still standing -- the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt -- a Swiss entrepreneur, Bernard Weber, thinks it is about time to launch a search for the Seven Wonders of Today's World.
The New 7 Wonders campaign, designed to raise awareness of our cultural heritage, was launched in 2000 and has so far attracted 19 million telephone voters in what has been dubbed the "world's first global voting campaign."
A panel of architectural experts has whittled down the public's proposals to a shortlist of 21 potential wonders. The Great Pyramid of Giza (an old favorite), the Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall of China and the Coliseum in Rome made it onto the list. From more modern times came the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sydney Opera House in Australia and New York's Statue of Liberty.
Voting continues until New Year's Day 2007 when the seven lucky winners will be announced. Half of the proceeds from the telephone votes will go to restoring monuments and buildings around the world.
The original list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was drawn up by several ancient Greek writers, including most famously, Antipater of Sidon and Philon of Byzantium in the second century B.C. All were located around the Mediterranean Sea. For the curious, it contained: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
