Updating the Seven Wonders of the World
Six of the Seven Wonders of the World have long since gone with the wind. The Giza pyramids of Egypt are the sole survivor — and now they are threatened by modern Cairo's rapidly spreading urban sprawl.
But the reliability of the original Seven Wonders list, drawn up by the architect Philon of Byzantium in about 200 B.C., was suspect anyway. Did the hanging gardens of Babylon ever exist? The Tower of Babel? The Colossus of Rhodes? No traces remain.
Philon kept within his known world — the Mediterranean basin — so manmade constructions like the Great Wall of China and Angkor Wat in Cambodia never made the grade.
Today our world is so loaded with wonders that, uncomfortable with the gaping lacunas in Philon's legacy, a Swiss-Canadian filmmaker, Bernard Weber, is conducting a popular vote on the Internet to update the list. He says his project is the world's first global ballot on any subject.
Weber has spent the past six years drumming up interest and is now in the home stretch. On July 7 (that's 07/07/07) he will announce results of the vote for the world's favorite "New Seven Wonders" at a ceremony in Lisbon. His stated aim is to celebrate and protect the greatest man-made monuments on the planet.
Not everyone thinks this makes sense, notably the Egyptians, who bristle at what they see as a challenge to the international standing of the pyramids. A few weeks ago the country's culture minister, Faruq Hosni, denounced the competition as "absurd," and Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said he stands by the ancient listing. "It's ridiculous. They don't need to be put to a vote," he said.
Read entire article at International Herald Tribune
But the reliability of the original Seven Wonders list, drawn up by the architect Philon of Byzantium in about 200 B.C., was suspect anyway. Did the hanging gardens of Babylon ever exist? The Tower of Babel? The Colossus of Rhodes? No traces remain.
Philon kept within his known world — the Mediterranean basin — so manmade constructions like the Great Wall of China and Angkor Wat in Cambodia never made the grade.
Today our world is so loaded with wonders that, uncomfortable with the gaping lacunas in Philon's legacy, a Swiss-Canadian filmmaker, Bernard Weber, is conducting a popular vote on the Internet to update the list. He says his project is the world's first global ballot on any subject.
Weber has spent the past six years drumming up interest and is now in the home stretch. On July 7 (that's 07/07/07) he will announce results of the vote for the world's favorite "New Seven Wonders" at a ceremony in Lisbon. His stated aim is to celebrate and protect the greatest man-made monuments on the planet.
Not everyone thinks this makes sense, notably the Egyptians, who bristle at what they see as a challenge to the international standing of the pyramids. A few weeks ago the country's culture minister, Faruq Hosni, denounced the competition as "absurd," and Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said he stands by the ancient listing. "It's ridiculous. They don't need to be put to a vote," he said.