New7Wonders of the World

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This article is about the New 7 Wonders Foundation list. For other uses, see Wonders
of the World.

From left to right, top to bottom: Chichen Itza, Christ the Redeemer, the Great Wall of
China, Machu Picchu, Petra, the Taj Mahal, and the Colosseum

New 7 Wonders of the World was a campaign started in 2000 to choose Wonders of

the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments.[1] The popularity poll via free
Web-based voting and small amounts of telephone voting was led by Canadian-Swiss
Bernard Weber and organized by the New 7 Wonders Foundation (N7W) based in
Zurich, Switzerland, with winners announced on 7 July 2007 in Lisbon, at Estádio da
Luz.[2][3][4][5] The poll was considered unscientific partly because it was possible for people
to cast multiple votes.[6] According to John Zogby, founder and current President/CEO of
the Utica, New York-based polling organization Zogby International, New 7 Wonders
Foundation drove "the largest poll on record". [4]
The program drew a wide range of official reactions. Some countries touted their finalist
and tried to get more votes cast for it, while others downplayed or criticized the contest.
[4][6]
 After supporting the New 7 Wonders Foundation at the beginning of the campaign by
providing advice on nominee selection, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), by its bylaws having to record all and give equal
 status to world heritage sites, distanced itself from the undertaking in 2001 and again in
2007.[7][8]
The seven winners were chosen from 21 candidates, which had been whittled down
from 77 choices by a panel in 2006.
The New 7 Wonders Foundation, established in 2001, relied on private donations and
the sale of broadcast rights and received no public funding. [9] After the final
announcement, New 7 Wonders said it did not earn anything from the exercise and
barely recovered its investment.[10] Although N7W describes itself as a not-for-profit
organization, the company behind it—the New Open World Corporation (NOWC)—is a
commercial business. All licensing and sponsorship money is paid to NOWC.
The foundation ran two subsequent programs: New 7 Wonders of Nature, the subject of
voting until 2011, and New7Wonders Cities, which ended in 2014.
The campaigns and the organization are sometimes spelled as one word and
sometimes as a single word.

Contents

 1Winners
 2Reactions
o 2.1United Nations
o 2.2Brazil
o 2.3Peru
o 2.4Chile
o 2.5India
o 2.6Jordan
o 2.7Mexico
 3Other finalists
 4References
 5External links

Winners[edit]

Location of the New 7 Wonders winners

The Great Pyramid of Giza, largest and oldest of the three pyramids at the
Giza Necropolis in Egypt and the only surviving of the original Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World, was granted honorary status.

Wonder Location Image Year

Giza Pyramids
Giza Necropolis, Egypt 2560 BC
(honorary status)

Great Wall of China China 700 BC

Petra Ma'an, Jordan 312 BC

Colosseum Rome, Italy AD 80

Chichén Itzá Yucatán, Mexico AD 600

Machu Picchu Cuzco Region, Peru AD 1450

 Taj Mahal Agra, India AD 1643

Christ the
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil AD 1931
Redeemer

Reactions[edit]
United Nations[edit]
In 2007, the New 7 Wonders Foundation contracted a partnership with the United
Nations in recognition of the efforts to promote the UN's Millennium Development Goals.
[11][failed verification]

However, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

(UNESCO), in a press release on June 20, 2007, reaffirmed that it has no link with the
initiative. The press release concluded:[8]
There is no comparison between Mr. Weber's mediatized campaign and the scientific
and educational work resulting from the inscription of sites on UNESCO's World
Heritage List. The list of the 8 New Wonders of the World will be the result of a private
undertaking, reflecting only the opinions of those with access to the Internet and not the
entire world. This initiative cannot, in any significant and sustainable manner, contribute
to the preservation of sites elected by this public.

— UNESCO

Brazil[edit]
In Brazil there was a campaign Vote no Cristo (Vote for the Christ) which had the
support of private companies, namely telecommunications operators that stopped
charging voters to make telephone calls and SMS messages to vote. [12] Additionally,
leading corporate sponsors including Banco Bradesco and Rede Globo spent millions
of reais in the effort to have the statue voted into the top seven. [4] Newsweek reports the
campaign was so pervasive that:[4]
One morning in June, Rio de Janeiro residents awoke to a beeping text message on
their cell phones: "Press 4916 and vote for Christ. It's free!" The same pitch had been
popping up all over the city since late January—flashing across an electronic screen
every time city-dwellers swiped their transit cards on city buses and echoing on TV
infomercials that featured a reality-show celebrity posing next to the city's trademark
Christ the Redeemer statue.
— Elizabeth Dwoskin, Newsweek
According to an article in Newsweek, around 10 million Brazilians had voted in the
contest by early July.[4] This number is estimated as the New 7 Wonders Foundation
never released such details about the campaign. An airplane message, with a huge
inscription "4916 VOTE FOR CHRIST" flew in Rio de Janeiro for a month.
Peru[edit]
An intensive campaign led by the Peruvian Ministry of Commerce and Tourism in Peru
had a great impact in the media and consequently, Peruvian people voted massively for
its national wonder. The announcement of the new World Wonders generated great
expectations and the election of Machu Picchu was celebrated nationwide.
Chile[edit]
The Chilean representative for Easter Island's Moais, Alberto Hortus, said Weber gave
him a letter saying that the Moais had finished eighth and were morally one of the New
7 Wonders. Hortus said he was the only participant to receive such an apology. [13]
India[edit]
A campaign to publicize the Taj Mahal in India gathered speed and it reached a climax
in July 2007 with news channels, radio stations, and many celebrities asking people to
vote for the Taj Mahal.
Jordan[edit]
Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan joined the campaign to back Petra, Jordan's
national treasure.[4]
Mexico[edit]
There was a campaign on the news programs to encourage people to vote for Chichen
Itzá.[citation needed]

Other finalists[edit]
The other 13 finalists,[14] chronologically were:

Wonder Location Image Year

Stonehenge Amesbury, United Kingdom 2400 BC

Acropolis of Athens Athens, Greece 447 BC

Hagia Sophia İstanbul, Turkey 537

Angkor Wat Angkor, Cambodia 1113

Moai Statues Easter Island, Chile 1250

Timbuktu Timbuktu, Mali 1327

Alhambra Granada, Spain 1333

Kremlin and Red Square Moscow, Russia 1561

Kiyomizu-dera Kyoto, Japan 1633

Neuschwanstein Füssen, Germany 1869

New York City, United

Statue of Liberty 1886
States

Eiffel Tower Paris, France 1887

Sydney Opera House Sydney, Australia 1973