The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (from left to right, top to bottom): Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (also known as the Mausoleum of Mausolus), Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria as depicted by 16th-century Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck.
Map of places listed in various Wonders of the World list (interactive map)
Various lists of the Wonders of the World have been compiled
from antiquity to the present day, to catalogue the world's most
spectacular natural wonders and manmade structures.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the first known list of the most remarkable creations of classical antiquity; it was based on guidebooks popular among Hellenic sightseers and only includes works located around the Mediterranean rim and in Mesopotamia.
The number seven was chosen because the Greeks believed it represented
perfection and plenty, and because it was the number of the five planets
known anciently, plus the sun and moon.
Many similar lists have been made.
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Great Pyramid of Giza, the only wonder of the ancient world still in existence
The historian Herodotus (484 – c. 425 BC) and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (c. 305–240 BC), at the Museum of Alexandria, made early lists of seven wonders. Their writings have not survived, except as references.
The classic seven wonders were:
- Great Pyramid of Giza, El Giza, Egypt the only one that still exists.
- Colossus of Rhodes, in Rhodes, on the Greek island of the same name.
- Hanging Gardens of Babylon, in Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq.
- Lighthouse of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt.
- Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, in Halicarnassus, Achaemenid Empire, modern day Turkey.
- Statue of Zeus at Olympia, in Olympia, Greece.
- Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, in Ephesus (near the modern town of Selçuk in present-day Turkey).
Lists from other eras
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, some writers wrote their own
lists with names such as Wonders of the Middle Ages, Seven Wonders of
the Middle Ages, Seven Wonders of the Medieval Mind, and Architectural
Wonders of the Middle Ages. However, it is unlikely that these lists
originated in the Middle Ages, because the word "medieval" was not invented until the Enlightenment-era, and the concept of a Middle Age did not become popular until the 16th century. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable refers to them as "later list[s]", suggesting the lists were created after the Middle Ages.
Many of the structures on these lists were built much earlier than the Medieval Ages but were well known.
Typically representative are:
- Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa located in Alexandria, Egypt.
- Colosseum in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy.
- Great Wall of China built across the historical northern borders of China.
- Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy.
- Porcelain Tower of Nanjing located on the south bank of external Qinhuai River in Nanjing, People's Republic of China.
- Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England.
Other sites sometimes included on such lists:
- Cairo Citadel is a medieval Islamic fortification in Cairo, Egypt.
- Cluny Abbey in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France.
- Ely Cathedral in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
- Taj Mahal on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the India city of Agra.
Recent lists
Following in the tradition of the classical list, modern people and
organisations have made their own lists of wonderful things ancient and
modern. Some of the most notable lists are presented below.
American Society of Civil Engineers
CN Tower in Toronto, Canada
In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers
compiled a list of Seven Wonders of the Modern World, paying tribute to
the "greatest civil engineering achievements of the 20th century".
| Wonder | Date started | Date finished | Location | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Channel Tunnel | December 1, 1987 | May 6, 1994 | Strait of Dover, between the United Kingdom and France | The longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world |
| CN Tower | February 6, 1973 | June 26, 1976 | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Tallest freestanding structure in the world 1976–2007 |
| Empire State Building | March 17, 1930 | April 11, 1931 | New York City, New York, United States | Tallest structure in the world 1931–1954, tallest freestanding structure in the world 1931–1967, tallest building in the world 1931–1970, first building with 100+ stories |
| Golden Gate Bridge | January 5, 1933 | May 27, 1937 | Golden Gate Strait, north of San Francisco, California, United States. | The longest suspension bridge main span in the world from 1937 to 1964 |
| Itaipú Dam | January 1970 | May 5, 1984 | Paraná River, between Brazil and Paraguay | The largest operating hydroelectric facility in the world in terms of annual energy generation |
| Delta and Zuiderzee Works |
1920 | May 10, 1997 | Zeeland, South Holland, North Holland, Friesland and Flevoland, Netherlands | The largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century |
| Panama Canal | January 1, 1880 | January 7, 1914 | Isthmus of Panama | One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken |
USA Today's New Seven Wonders
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In November 2006 the American national newspaper USA Today and the American television show Good Morning America revealed a list of "New Seven Wonders" as chosen by six judges. An eighth wonder was chosen on November 24, 2006, from viewer feedback.
| No. | Wonder | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Potala Palace | Lhasa, Tibet |
| 2 | Old City of Jerusalem | Israel and Palestine |
| 3 | Polar ice caps | Polar regions |
| 4 | Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument | Hawaii, United States |
| 5 | Internet |
|
| 6 | Mayan ruins | Yucatán Peninsula, México |
| 7 | Great Migration of Serengeti and Masai Mara | Tanzania and Kenya |
| 8 | Grand Canyon (viewer-chosen eighth wonder) | Arizona, United States |
Seven Natural Wonders of the World
Similar to the other lists of wonders, there is no consensus on a
list of seven natural wonders of the world, and there has been debate
over how large the list should be. One of the many existing lists was
compiled by CNN in 1997:
- Aurora in the high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic).
- Grand Canyon in Arizona, United States.
- Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia.
- Harbor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Mount Everest claimed by Nepal, as well as China.
- Parícutin volcano located in the Mexican state of Michoacán, Mexico.
- Victoria Falls at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
New7Wonders of the World
In 2001 an initiative was started by the Swiss corporation New7Wonders Foundation to choose the New7Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments through online votes.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, the only remaining of the Seven Ancient
Wonders, was not one of the winners announced in 2007 but was added as
an honorary candidate.
| Wonder | Date of construction | Present-day Location |
|---|---|---|
| Great Wall of China | Since 7th century BC | China |
| Petra | c. 100 BC | Jordan |
| Christ the Redeemer | Opened October 12, 1931 | Brazil |
| Machu Picchu | c. AD 1450 | Peru |
| Chichen Itza | c. AD 600 | Mexico |
| Colosseum | Completed AD 80 | Italy |
| Taj Mahal | Completed c. AD 1648 | India |
| Great Pyramid of Giza (honorary candidate) | Completed c. 2560 BC | Egypt |
New7Wonders of Nature
New7Wonders of Nature
(2007–2011), a contemporary effort to create a list of seven natural
wonders chosen through a global poll, was organized by the same group as
the New7Wonders of the World campaign.
- Iguazu Falls on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná.
- Hạ Long Bay in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam.
- Jeju Island in the Jeju Province of South Korea.
- Puerto Princesa Underground River in Palawan, Philippines
- Table Mountain overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa.
- Komodo one of the 17,508 islands that comprise the Republic of Indonesia.
- Amazon rainforest located in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and France (French Guiana)
New7Wonders Cities
Calle Crisologo, Vigan City
New7Wonders Cities is the third global vote organized by New7Wonders.
- Durban, South Africa
- Vigan, The Philippines
- Havana, Cuba
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Beirut, Lebanon
- Doha, Qatar
- La Paz, Bolivia
Seven Wonders of the Underwater World
The Seven Underwater Wonders of the World was a list drawn up by
CEDAM International, an American-based non-profit group for divers,
dedicated to ocean preservation and research. In 1989 CEDAM brought
together a panel of marine scientists, including Dr. Eugenie Clark, to
pick underwater areas which they considered to be worthy of protection.
The results were announced at The National Aquarium in Washington DC by
actor Lloyd Bridges, star of TV's Sea Hunt:
- Palau, Palau.
- Belize Barrier Reef, Belize.
- Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
- Deep-Sea Vents.
- Galápagos Islands, Republic of Ecuador.
- Lake Baikal, Russia
- Northern Red Sea, bordered by Saudi Arabia and Yemen on the eastern shore, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti on the western shore.
Seven Wonders of the Industrial World
Bell Rock Lighthouse
British author Deborah Cadbury wrote Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, a book telling the stories of seven great feats of engineering of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2003, the BBC aired a seven-part docudrama exploring the same feats, with Cadbury as a producer. Each episode dramatised the construction of one of the following industrial wonders:
- SS Great Eastern
- Bell Rock Lighthouse, off the coast of Angus, Scotland.
- Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, United States.
- London sewerage system, serving London, England.
- First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States.
- Panama Canal, Panama.
- Hoover Dam, on the border between Nevada and Arizona in the United States.
Seven Wonders of the Solar System
Enceladus
In a 1999 article, Astronomy magazine listed the "Seven Wonders of the Solar System". This article was later made into a video.
- Enceladus, a moon of Saturn
- The Great red spot of Jupiter
- The Asteroid belt
- The surface of the Sun
- The Oceans of Earth
- The Rings of Saturn
- Olympus Mons on Mars
Other lists of wonders of the world
- Many authors and organisations have composed lists of the wonders of the world that have been published in book or magazine form.
- Seven Wonders of the World is a 1956 film in which Lowell Thomas searches the world for natural and man-made wonders and invites the audience to try to update the ancient Wonders of the World list.
