New 7 Wonders

[James Blast]

me and Jools parted company on Jehovakill, shame I loved the Teardrop Explodes so much, you must get the remasted Kilimanjaro

PMs will be accepted

[Obviousman]

I would like to have seen Avebury stone circle on there. That would have got my vote. A real example of megalithic culture.

For some reason that one appears to be unknown around here, whereas Stonehenge is quite famous all over. So probably it's not in the list because of bad PR of your Tourist Information Bureau abroad (eg. I have never heard of Avebury before)

Haven't decided what I'm voting for yet, first I really have to think it over. I think it's about stuff you must see at least once in your life, global landmarks, and thus I think things like the Eiffel Tower and Liberty Statue are well worth a place in the list. Nevertheless I'm sure Machu Picchu et al. are perhaps worth being in the list much more. Also, I think something's age doesn't have anything to do with being list worthy, eg. Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao?

Dilemmas dilemmas! I'll need at least one night of sleep to decide

[andymackem]

Hmm. Not sure what I'd have as my seven wonders. But why are they all buildings or structures? Have we achieved nothing in any other field?

How about Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues (also known as the Well-tempered Clavier)? Truly sublime music, and extending the boundaries of the art at the same time. What happened to Rembrandt, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Elvis, Lasceaux?

How about (controversially) the NHS? Or the welfare state? Or even, if you want to stretch a point about humanity, Live Aid?

Maybe Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People? The first published text in vernacular English and thus the birth of the world's most widespread tongue. And Bede was a Mackem! Though it might be fairer to point out that this was the vernacular language of the peoples of England, not anything we would recognise as 'English'. It was about 700AD, after all.

Maybe the first jet powered aircraft, another English invention? How about Durham Cathedral, with the oldest surviving stone-vaulted roof?

What about Nadia Komenchi's (sp) 'perfect 10' at the Olympics? Or Pele and Brazil in 1970? Four minute miles, fastest men on earth? Why should we merely wonder at bricks and mortar?

It's a pretty facile and unimaginative list, frankly. I've been to four of them up to now but I'm not convinced any of them would make it into my personal top seven destinations.

@ BoF: yes, it is St Basils. No, that isn't part of the Kremlin.

[Obviousman]

Very fair points, andy

I think they only put buildings on it as the board of experts' chief was an old UNESCO chief, and the old wonders were all buildings as well. They seem to see it like the reintroduction of the Olympics in 1896

The commonly-known Seven Ancient Wonders of the World were all man-made monuments, selected by Philon of Byzantium in 200 BC.

His choice was essentially a travel guide for fellow Athenians, and the stunning sites were all located around the Mediterranean basin, the then-known world.

The monuments he chose, to be remembered in perpetuity, were:

* The Lighthouse of Alexandria
* The Temple of Artemis
* The Statue of Zeus
* The Colossus of Rhodes
* The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
* The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
* The Pyramids of Egypt


All had been built between 2500 BC and 200 BC. But today, only the Pyramids at Giza remain.

Now, just as Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympic Games in 1896, with his modern version of the competition, N7W Founder Bernard Weber is seeking to revive the concept of the Seven Worldwide Wonders with this massive global campaign, the New 7 Wonders of the World.

The major difference is that, this time around, they will not be chosen by one man, but by millions of people all over the world.

They will be the people’s choice, and they will be drawn from the earliest time that Man walked on Earth up to the year 2000.

It is therefore possible that the only survivor of the original Wonders, the Pyramids in Giza, could be chosen and re-confirmed for a second time!

BTW: Nobody came up with this yet: But I hope the outcome won't be as terrible as the Greatest <insert country>, this is as much would-be democratic voting, isn't it,

[andymackem]

I did read their explanation (albeit after posting).

But there's plenty of things which could count as a 'monument' (this is, for me at least, distinct from a building). For the works of music and literature I've mentioned, where the original manuscripts are still extant (I don't know, to be honest) that would be a physical record as relevant as any pile bricks and stone. Relevant technological achievements (one could add steam engines, deep-seam mining, turbine driven boats) may also be extant in some form (though I believe Stephenson's Locomotion and Rocket, and presume the Turbinia, exist only in replica form).

Admittedly that's harder to tackle in the case of the political ideals I put forward, but you could still visit them - even if Saturday night in casualty isn't a great idea!

On the other hand, are the cave paintings at Lasceaux not public art in exactly the same way as Eiffel Tower or Statue of Liberty? And enjoy similar international celebrity?

The idea is interesting, but if I were a feminist I'd insist that this was a phallo-centric, masculine list which reflects a very narrow slice of human achievement.

But now I'm ranting ....

[Debaser]

The Temple of Artemis.....I'm SURE I've been there...well to the bits that are left of it. near Ephesus in Turkey

[Debaser]

Surely this has to be on the new list

http://www.pbase.com/gaztop/image/35560130

[emilystrange]

oo yes.. i've been up there.. i don't like heights so i didn't really get the benefit

[Debaser]

oo yes.. i've been up there.. i don't like heights so i didn't really get the benefit

I think it looked MUCH better from 'down'. There was NO way I was going up it, no matter how fabbie the view was!

[canon docre]

Surely this has to be on the new list

http://www.pbase.com/gaztop/image/35560130

To be included on the new list, the wonders had to be man-made, completed by 2000, and in an "acceptable" state of preservation.

[eastmidswhizzkid]

avebury is awesome and unlike stonehenge (which always seems too small in the flesh) cannot be appreciated fully without walking through it.

all that aside my vote would be for the ol' world-wide-web.

[James Blast]

Sagrada Familia is not finished yet, and Sydney Opera House was completed(?) without its creator's say so. The fact he then went a bit daft after that, is neither here nor there.

[Debaser]

Surely this has to be on the new list

http://www.pbase.com/gaztop/image/35560130

To be included on the new list, the wonders had to be man-made, completed by 2000, and in an "acceptable" state of preservation.

You actually thought, even for a minute, that I bothered myself with trivialities

[Francis]

I would like to have seen Avebury stone circle on there. That would have got my vote. A real example of megalithic culture.

Yes that would get my vote as well - but what about Stonehenge?

Certainly not. It's not representative of the true beauty of stone circles. It's like the new Wembley to the old one. Much too modern.

I can't claim to know much about megalithic culture, but Stonehenge is more visually impressive than Avebury and would seem to represent a greater engineering challenge, given the design of uprights connected by lintels. Avebury's never done anything for me. But standing in the middle of Stonehenge was a quasi-religious experience.

[Ozpat]

Uluru aka Ayers Rock

[Obviousman]

Uluru aka Ayers Rock

Nice choice

Though it's not man-made... Perhaps we could get in a conspiracy theory and let alien made things count along

[Silver_Owl]

What about the Nazca lines?Awsome. Don't know how I forgot about them.

[Ozpat]

What about the Nazca lines?Awsome. Don't know how I forgot about them.

Good one!

Read more about it here: http://www.crystalinks.com/nazca.html

[Silver_Owl]

If anybody ever gets the opportunity to fly over them I recommend it. Ignore the terrible nausea as the plane banks laft then right then left again and you'll love it. And it was cheap.

[Brideoffrankenstein]

If anybody ever gets the opportunity to fly over them I recommend it. Ignore the terrible nausea as the plane banks laft then right then left again and you'll love it. And it was cheap.

Argh! This thread has given me too many ideas for holidays that I want to go on now!

[Obviousman]

An extra thingy:

The full list of 77 monuments they chose from: clicky

Some odd things in there, like both the Big Ben and the House of Parliament, aren't they the same building

[Brideoffrankenstein]

Some odd things in there, like both the Big Ben and the House of Parliament, aren't they the same building

Big Ben is the actual bell inside the tower I as far as I know

[scotty]

Some odd things in there, like both the Big Ben and the House of Parliament, aren't they the same building

Big Ben is the actual bell inside the tower I as far as I know

Correct Bof.

[James Blast]

I knew that, any fule no that!

[Obviousman]

But it is in the same building then, right. Does not really make sense to me