Over 90 million people will vote for the New Seven Wonders
SWITZERLAND: The Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome and
Peru’s Machu Picchu are leading contenders to be among the new seven
wonders of the world, as a massive poll draws to a close with votes
already cast by more than 90 million people, organizers say.
As the Friday midnight GMT voting deadline approaches, the rankings
can still change. Also in the top 10 are Greece’s Acropolis, Mexico’s
Chichen Itza pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island, Brazil’s Statue
of Christ Redeemer, the Taj Mahal and Jordan’s Petra.
The winners will be announced on Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Great Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the
original seven wonders of the ancient world, are assured of keeping
their status in addition to the new seven after indignant Egyptian
officials said it was a disgrace they had to compete for a spot.
In the final round of 20 candidates for the world’s top architectural
marvels, people from every country in the world have voted by Internet
or phone, says the nonprofit organization conducting the balloting.
“It’s so exciting,” said Tia B. Viering, spokeswoman for the “New 7
Wonders of the World” campaign.
“There are not many things that could bring the world together like
global culture ... this is really something that every single person in
the world can be interested in.”
“This is all about bringing people together, to appreciate each other
... to celebrate diversity,” said Viering.
The Colosseum, the Great Wall, Machu Picchu, India’s Taj Mahal and
Jordan’s Petra have been among the leaders since January, while the
Acropolis and the Statue of Christ Redeemer made their way up from the
middle of the field to the top level, according to latest tallies.
The United States’ Statue of Liberty and Australia’s Sydney Opera
House have been sitting in the bottom 10 since the start.
Also in the bottom group are Cambodia’s Angkor, Spain’s Alhambra,
Turkey’s Hagia Sophia, Japan’s Kiyomizu Temple, Russia’s Kremlin and St.
Basil’s Cathedral, Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle, Britain’s Stonehenge
and Mali’s Timbuktu.
The ancient city of Petra in southwestern Jordan - popularized by
“Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and famous for its water tunnels
and stone structures carved in the rock - jumped from the middle of the
pack to the top seven in January.
That was largely thanks to campaigning by the Jordanian royal family
and thousands of Jordanians voting by text message over their mobile
phones, Viering said.
The campaign was begun in 1999 by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber,
with almost 200 nominations coming in from around the world.
The list of candidates was narrowed down to 21 by the start of 2006.
Since organizers started a tour to each site last September, the
competition has been heating up.
There is no foolproof way to prevent people from voting more than
once for their favorite wonder, but most of the votes are cast by
Internet in a system that registers each participant’s e-mail address to
discourage people from voting twice, Viering said.
“We have a lot of kids (voting) and that trend is continuing ... but
we have votes really from every part of the population,” she added.
The original list of wonders were concentrated in the Mediterranean
and Middle East.
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 are all
gone.
After the Egyptian protest, the organizers of the campaign set the
pyramids above the competition.
“We absolutely had no problem with this,” Viering told the AP.
As of Saturday, there will be eight world wonders including the
Pyramids of Giza, she added.
Choosing world wonders has been a fascination over the centuries.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,
or UNESCO, keeps updating its list of World Heritage Sites, which now
totals 851 places.
The agency, however, is not involved in the New 7 Wonders project.
Weber’s Switzerland-based foundation aims to promote cultural diversity
by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments.
It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting
rights.
Geneva, Friday, AP |