NPR: Last Chance to Vote in New 'Seven Wonders' Contest

Last Chance to Vote in New 'Seven Wonders' Contest

The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images

Today and Friday are your last chances to get your vote in for the latest version of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Associated Press reports that the global competition to pick the new list has attracted more than 20 million voters. The winners will be announced Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal.

The list has been cut down to 21 finalists. The pyramids of Giza in Egypt are the only structures from the original list that made the cut this time -- they're the only ancient wonder still around.

The nominees for the new list also include: the Statue of Liberty, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island, the statute of Christ the Redeemer that looms over Rio de Janeiro, Petra in Jordan, the Sydney Opera House and the Great Wall of China.

You can see all the finalists and vote for your favorites at The New 7 Wonders of the World. (The site might be slow -- a lot of people probably trying to vote before it ends.)

As for me, my list would be: the pyramids, the Great Wall, the Alhambra in Spain, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the Colosseum in Rome, Stonehenge in Britain and the Statue of Liberty. And yours?

2:51 PM ET | 07- 5-2007 | permalink

Comments

The construction of Petra by the ancient Nabataeans was a stunning achievement which certainly deserves a place as one of the New 7 Wonders. If readers would like to learn more about visiting Jordan's greatest wonder, there is information as well as traveler experiences on the Petra blog at www.petrablog.com
Incidentally you could add Petra to your list above without running over your allocation as the pyramids have been given an honorary place by the New 7 Wonders organizers and is therefore excluded from the voting.

Sent by Neil MacLean | 4:46 AM ET | 07-06-2007

It kinda bugs me that they're calling this list the "new seven wonders" when so many of the candidates are just as ancient. And since it's basically a popularity contest, it's allowing countries with large numbers of people to vote for their own sites while countries with less access have a harder time competing. Personally, Angkor would be my #1 on the list, but it's doing poorly in the voting because so few westerners no much about it and almost no one in Cambodia has Internet access.

Okay, off the soapbox. Here's my list of pics if it were up to me, irrespective of finalists, and taking into account the Pyramids are getting a lifetime achievement award:

Angkor
Great Wall of China
Aya Sofya
Petra
Machu Picchu
Stonehenge
Bagan, Burma

Runners up: Borobudur (Indonesia), the Moscow subway system, the underground cisterns of Istanbul, Eiffel Tower, Great Zimbabwe, Nan Madol (Micronesia), Colosseum of El Jem (Tunisia), Chichen Itza, Tikal.

Sent by andy carvin | 9:55 AM ET | 07-06-2007

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