New 7 Wonders of the World

The New 7 Wonders of the World was an exciting project that started in 2001. It aimed to choose the most amazing buildings and places from a list of 200 famous monuments around the world. People could vote for their favorites online or by phone. The project was led by a man named Bernard Weber from Switzerland and organized by the New 7 Wonders Foundation in Zurich.

The winners were announced on July 7, 2007, in a big stadium called Estádio da Luz in the city of Lisbon. Even though many people voted, some experts said the poll wasn’t completely fair because people could vote more than once. But it was still very popular and got lots of attention around the world.

The project started with 77 possible wonders, which were narrowed down to 21, and finally, 7 winners were chosen. The New 7 Wonders Foundation didn’t get any money from the project and only barely made back what they spent. After this project, they went on to start other similar contests, like picking the New 7 Wonders of Nature and the New 7 Wonders Cities.

Winners

The pyramids at Giza Necropolis in Egypt, including the Great Pyramid, were given special honorary status. The Great Pyramid is the only one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that is still standing today.

Wonder	Location	Image	Year
Giza Pyramids (honorary status)	Giza Necropolis, Egypt		2560 BC
Great Wall of China	China		1368 AD
Petra	Ma'an, Jordan		40 AD
Colosseum	Rome, Italy		80 AD
Chichén Itzá	Yucatán, Mexico		600 AD
Machu Picchu	Cuzco Region, Peru		1450 AD
Taj Mahal	Agra, India		1643 AD
Christ the Redeemer	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil		1931 AD

Reactions given

In 2007, the New 7 Wonders Foundation worked with the United Nations to help support important global goals. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said they were not part of the campaign. They explained that the New 7 Wonders list came from public voting and did not represent the entire world.

Countries also showed a lot of interest in the campaign. In Brazil, businesses helped people vote for the Christ the Redeemer statue by sending free text messages. In Peru, many people voted for Machu Picchu and celebrated when it was chosen. Other countries, like India with the Taj Mahal, Jordan with Petra, and Mexico with Chichen Itzá, also encouraged people to vote for their famous landmarks.

Other finalists

The New 7 Wonders of the World campaign had 13 other places that people thought were wonderful, besides the seven that were chosen. These amazing spots are from all around the world, showing how many important places there are.

The 13 other finalists are:

Wonder	Location	Image	Year
Stonehenge	Amesbury, United Kingdom		2400 BC
Acropolis of Athens	Athens, Greece		447 BC
Hagia Sophia	Istanbul, Turkey		537 AD
Angkor Wat	Angkor, Cambodia		1113 AD
Moai Statues	Easter Island, Chile		1250 AD
Timbuktu	Timbuktu, Mali		1327 AD
Alhambra	Granada, Spain		1333 AD
Kremlin and Red Square	Moscow, Russia		1561 AD
Kiyomizu-dera	Kyoto, Japan		1633 AD
Neuschwanstein Castle	Füssen, Germany		1869 AD
Statue of Liberty	New York City, United States		1886 AD
Eiffel Tower	Paris, France		1887 AD
Sydney Opera House	Sydney, Australia		1973 AD