New Seven Wonders of the World Display

Vote for the New Seven Wonders of the World

Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber began a campaign in 1999 asking for nominations for the "New Seven Wonders of the World." The Egyptian pyramids are the only surviving structures from the original list of seven. Gone are the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis as Ephesus, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Pharos lighthouse off Alexandria.

Candidates for the new list have been narrowed down to 21. The public can vote for the choices on the Internet at www.new7wonders.com. The Statue of Liberty is the only architectural marvel on the list in the United States. The other candidates are the Acropolis in Greece, Alhambra in Spain, Christ the Redeemer Statue in Brazil, the Colosseum in Italy, Easter Island of Chile', the Eiffel Tower in France, the Great Wall of China, Haghia Sofia in Turkey, Kiyomizu Temple in Japan, the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia, Machu Picchu in Peru, Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, Petra in Jordan, the Pyramid at Chichen Itza of Mexico, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Stonehenge in Great Britain, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Taj Mahal in India, and the two mosques of Timbuktu, Mali.

The Geospatial Center & Map Collection has a collection of architectural pictorial guide maps that feature some of these great marvels of engineering and design. The Great People of the Past maps from National Geographic also include maps of the grounds of the Acropolis and other ancient formations. A display featuring information about the new candidates is currently featured in the windows of the GCMC.