September 19th, 2009
The Seven Wonders Of The World Every Traveler Must See
Many centuries ago, the ancient Greeks created a list of the world’s seven wonders. However their list was limited to the Mediterranean region. The number seven has particular significance because it represented perfection and plenty to the Greeks.
The ancient Seven Wonders of the World included Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. To the Greeks, these were the most remarkable structures of their time.
Sadly, of these great structures, today only the Pyramid of Giza in Egypt survives. The incredible thing is that the Egyptian pyramids are also the oldest of all the wonders and are still standing strong.
In the last few decades, many have tried to compile new lists of seven wonders. Each list has been dogged by a certain amount of criticism and controversy. In 2007, The New7Wonders Foundation conducted a worldwide poll in which voters could cast their votes on the Internet or over the phone for their choice of structure. The Egyptian pyramids were named as an Honorary Candidate and the list of ‘New Seven Wonders of the World’ was released on July 7, 2007, in Lisbon.
A surprise entry to the new list was Brazil’s statue of ‘Christ the Redeemer’. Built in 1931, this is by far the most modern of the other structures belonging to the list. The other six structures are at least three centuries old and were built with grave limitations of transport and engineering.
The other six wonders on the new list comprise the Inca ruins of isolated Machu Picchu, the spectacular Mayan pyramid of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Great Wall of China that stretched across the country, the famous Colosseum in Rome, India’s white marble Taj Mahal in Agra and Jordan’s rose-coloured sandstone city in Petra.
What is beyond doubt is that each of the wonders on the list, along with the Pyramid of Giza, is worth a visit and should be part of your holiday travel at some point in time.
All the wonders, except one, have been built before the advent of machines and they represent a glorious past when man relied purely on his skill and ingenuity to overcome incredible odds.
Max Jones has written about the brief history of each of the Modern Seven Wonders and when is the best time to visit them. He also provides great Holiday Travel Ideas for destinations around the world.