New Seven Wonders of the World

Did you know that the idea to choose new Seven Wonders of the World appeared in 1999? 

It was Bernard Weber, a filmmaker with Swiss origins, who set up this project. Next, the list of the monuments was created by Swiss company, called New Open World Corporation. People could vote for the best monument from that list from 1st January 2006 to 6th July 2007. According to the researchers there was 90,000,000 million votes casted form a whole world! And finally form 7th July we have new Seven Wonders of the World which I want you present today.

At first, I have to mention that there is only one of the Old Seven Wonders of the World that survived until today. It is The Great Pyramid of Giza, which obtained an honorary status during presentation of a new list. It is the oldest and the largest one of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt and it is believed that it was built as tomb for Cheops. This gigantic monument was constructed over a 20-year period.    

The first one is The Great Wall of China. It stretches form Dandong in the east to Lop Lake in the west.  Several walls were built in 7th century to protect the Chinese states against the invasions. Each of the walls has its own name.

Then we have Petra in Jordan. It is a historical city which is famous of its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system which were very important in the barren deserts. It is also called a “Lost city of stones”. His name derives form the name of its royal founder Rekeme that means Petra in Greek.

The third position comes to The Colosseum in Italy. Its original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium. Its area has 24,000 square metres and it could accommodate 87,000 people! There were many different events which were organised in The Colosseum. We can enumerate shows called Munera that were given by private individuals to demonstrate of power and family prestige. Venatio – shows with the wild beast, navalia proelia – show in which the sea battles were simulated and sylvae shows, which aim was to recreate natural scenes.

The next monument is ChiChen Itza in Mexico.  It was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people. It name means “At the mouth of the well of the Itza.

The fifth position is for Machu Picchu in Peru. It is a 15^th century Inca citadel situated on a mountain. It was built in 1450.

Then we have also  Taj Mahal in India. It was built let to be built by Shah Jahan in 1631, in the memory of his wife which died giving birth to their 14th child.  Taj Mahal is constructed of ivory-white marble and it is a mausoleum which stretches on 17 hectares that includes a mosque and a guest house.

And the last one is The Christ the Redeemer in Brazil. The statue is 30 metres tall and it arms stretch 28 metres wide. It is located at the peak of the 700 metre Corcovado Mountain in the National Park. This statue is a symbol of Christianity.