09 July 07
New 7 Wonders Crowned
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After a seven-year voting period, the
“New 7 Wonders of the World” have been announced.
The sites comprise Chichen Itza,
Mexico; Christ the Redeemer, Brazil; the Great Wall, China; Machu Picchu,
Peru; Petra, Jordan; the Roman Colosseum, Italy; and the Taj Mahal,
India.
There were 14 runners up, including
Timbuktu, Mali; the Eiffel Tower, France; the Statue of Liberty, USA and
the Acropolis, Greece.
An event on Saturday took place at the
Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal to reveal the winning sites, and saw
performances by Jennifer Lopez, Jose Carreras and Chaka Khan.
The New 7 Wonders campaign was launched
by Swiss film producer Bernard Weber to “unite the world by honouring
our common heritage” and the organisers claim more than 100 million
people had voted through the website.
The Jordan Tourism Board welcomed the
news, and said the worldwide recognition of the Petra, “already
described as the non-official eighth wonder of the ancient world”, was
richly deserved.
However, Unesco has distanced itself
from the New 7 Wonders campaign, despite being invited to collaborate.
In a statement released the day before,
it said: “Acknowledging the sentimental or emblematic value of sites
and inscribing them on a new list is not enough. Scientific criteria
must be defined, the quality of candidates evaluated, and legislative
and management frameworks set up.”
It added that the campaign “reflected
only the opinions of those with access to the internet and not the
entire world” and would not contribute to the preservation of sites
elected by the voters.
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