Sunday, March 04, 2007

Vote now for the NEW 7 Wonders of the World!


The New 7 Wonders of the World will be announced during the Official Declaration ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, July 7, 2007 - 07.07.07.

12 comments:

Greybishop said...

Thanks for the link Sawsee.
I'd heard about this, meant to vote and then promptly forgot.
For the record:
The Acropolis.
Chichen Itza.
Easter Island Statues.
Great Wall.
Machu Picchu.
Pyramids of Giza.
Stonehenge.

If by some bizarre reverse miracle the Pyramids don't make the list, I'd say it's an invalid one. They really should have allowed voting on 6 and given the Pyramids an automatic listing.

Sawsee said...

Hey GB! It's tough to pick only 7! I agree with your list but feel Angkor Wat would bump the Acropolis. But leave Petra out? I guess the Acropolis is more amazing than Petra. I am surpised that the Vatican is not in contention; I would rate it higher than the Eiffel tower or Sydney Opera House! I have always loved Easter Island until I read Kon Tiki (I believe it was Kon Tiki) and the author asked the locals how they imagined the Sculptures were created. They then proceeded to show how, by carving into volcanic rock formations, slowly carving a giant head out of the rock. Who knows if this is really was the way but it did dampen my awe.

Greybishop said...

Hey Sawsee -
5 were (to me) obvious.
Pyramids, Easter Island, Stonehenge, The Great Wall and Chichen Itza.
The other two were what I would call questionable.
The Acropolis and Macchu Pichu could easily exchange with Ankor Wat or Petra.
Just so long as the Opera House and Statue of Liberty DON'T make the list. Not so much "wonder" when relatively modern machinery is used to create it...
Same goes for the Eiffel Tower. If there was a gas/diesel/electric motor involved at any stage of the production, I just feel that should automatically disqualify it.
Put those on a "Modern Wonders" list and include the bridge to Prince Edward Island or those honkin' towers in Asia.

Sawsee said...

Hey GB! I totally agree; there should be two classifications:

1) The ANCIENT Wonders of the World

2) The New Wonders of the World

I'll email you a link to a cartoon I recently finished... It may be a while as it has not been posted yet.

Greybishop said...

Totally. I guess since there is already a list of "Ancient Wonders", it would have to be something like "The Surviving Ancient Wonders" to make it clear that the "new" list had different criteria.
I watched a BBC special on the Ancient Wonders a couple of nights ago. Great stuff. More survives than I thought. Foundations for the Great Mausoleum are still partially surviving, same for the Temple of Artemis. They may even have bits and pieces of the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria. Sadly, the Statue of Zeus and Collussus of Rhodes are simply gone. I didn't know that The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are a historical uncertainty. They may not have existed at all, or in a very different form than we think of them, or even in a different city!
Still, fantastic stuff. Thanks for the link, it put me in the mindframe to go looking for more on the subject...

Sawsee said...

I guess when the 'original' list of (ancient) wonders were formulated, the 'world' did not know about South America or large parts of Asia. Therefore, The Great Wall, Machu Picchu and others were not part of the original list. But you are right, a new name is needed to eliminate confusion with the 'new', ancient list.

One of my fantasies, is to have been able to visit the Alexandria's library, although I'm sure it would have been mostly 'greek' to me!

Greybishop said...

Absoulutely.
Machu Picchu and some of the other sites that would have been flourishing at the same time that the list was compiled deserve to be on the "Ancient" list too!
Just imagine some of the things in pre-Columbus Mayan and Incan cultures being seen by the historians whose works we draw the "Original" list of wonders from. They probably would have died from shock.

Sawsee said...

Totally agree! I always imagine what it must have been for someone from a village, arriving at one of these sites and seeing these incredible, architectural wonders. Especially if their knowledge of 'buildings' was limited to one or two storey mud and straw huts (with goat skin curtains!).

In my reading about the Colossus at Rhodes, one legend strikes a strong image in my brain: (supposedly) the Colossus lay in shambles for hundreds of years until a merchant (I believe an arabian?) bought the debris and carted it off by camels. I totally see this mish-mash of giant appendages (foot or head etc) tied to the backs of a fleet of camels! What a sight!

Greybishop said...

One of the other neat things I learned in my pseudo-research into the original list is that the list of 7 that we are familiar with was only formalized in the middle ages. Imagine what else we DON'T know about. So much architecture, art and general wonder that has been forever lost to the grinding wheel of time, war and apathy.
I think of things like the statuary that was destroyed in Afganistan by the Taliban and it makes me near to physically ill to think about how much magic is destroyed by ignorance.

Sawsee said...

It would be incredible to know what still lies under rubble, or debris waiting to be re-discovered. I understand numerous 'treasures' were pillered in Afganistan and in Baghdad. The destroying of the 2 buddhas was so shocking and senseless. But, sadly, this willful destruction of icons or deities have happened repeatedly throughout history.

Sawsee said...

Some treasures were pilfered too! : > 0

Greybishop said...

One of the great historical ironies happened in Egypt. In an attempt to remove the references to the Egyptian Deities, many friezes and statues were defaced or destroyed, BUT, sometimes the Christians doing the defacing would plaster over the friezes, since it was quicker and easier than chiselling out the carvings. The plaster did an excellent job of preserving the carvings underneath, so a thousand years later, the BEST preserved Egyptian carvings are teh ones that the Christians inadvertantly protected while covering them over.
I live for irony like that.