New 7 Wonders Of The World

New 7 Wonders of the World (2001-2007) was an initiative started in 2001 to choose from a selection of 200 existing monuments. The popularity poll was led by Canadian-Swiss Bernard Weber and organized by the New 7 Wonders Foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland, with winners announced on July 7, 2007  in Lisbon. 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.

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 man-made structures.

New 7 wonders of the world – Mexico

This pyramid was built for astronomical purposes and during the vernal equinox (March 20) and the autumnal equinox (September 21) at about 3pm the sunlight bathes the western balustrade of the pyramid’s main stairway. This causes seven isosceles triangles to form imitating the body of a serpent 37 yards long that creeps downwards until it joins the huge serpent’s head carved in stone at the bottom of the stairway. Mexican researcher Luis El Arochi calls it “the symbolic descent of Kukulcan” (the feathered serpent), and believes it could have been connected with agricultural rituals. In 1194, Mayapan broke the alliance and subdued Chichen and Uxmal. The city was gradually abandoned.

New 7 wonders of the world – Brazil

The Statue of Christ the Redeemer, standing 30 meters (98ft) tall and overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro, is one of the tallest statues in the world. The statue represents Jesus standing with outstretched arms and is one of the most famous symbols of this lively city. Developed by the engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and originally conceived in 1921, construction started in mid-1926 and was completed in 1931.

 

New 7 wonders of the world – Peru

The ruins of Machu Picchu - Peru, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham, are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world.

New 7 wonders of the world – India

The Taj is the most beautiful monument built by the Mughals, the Muslim rulers of India. Taj Mahal is built entirely of white marble.

New 7 wonders of the world – China

The Great Wall of China, one of the greatest wonders of the world, was enlisted in the World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately 6,700 kilometers (4,163 miles ) from east to west of China. With a history of more than 2000 years, some of the sections of the great wall are now in ruins or even entirely disappeared. However, it is still one of the most appealing attractions all around the world owing to its architectural grandeur and historical significance.

The Great Wall is the world’s longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles) from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but stretches to over 6,700 km (4,160 miles) in total. It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass. At its peak the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men. It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall.

New 7 wonders of the world – Italy

The Colosseum is probably the most impressive building of the Roman empire. Originally known as the Flavian Amphitheater, it was the largest building of the era. The Colosseum - the greatest amphitheater of the antiquity - was built in Rome, Italy, about 1920 years ago. It is considered an architectural and engineering wonder, and remains as a standing proof of both the grandeur and the cruelty of the Roman world.

New 7 wonders of the world - Petra, Jordan
Petra was first established sometime around the 6th century BC, by the Nabataean Arabs, a nomadic tribe who settled in the area and laid the foundations of a commercial empire that extended into Syria. Despite successive attempts by the Seleucid king Antigonus, the Roman emperor Pompey and Herod the Great to bring Petra under the control of their respective empires, Petra remained largely in Nabataean hands until around 100AD, when the Romans took over. It was still inhabited during the Byzantine period, when the former Roman empire moved its focus east to Constantinople, but declined in importance thereafter. The Crusaders constructed a fort there in the 12th century, but soon withdrew, leaving Petra to the local people until the early 19th century, when it was visited by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.

Ref : Wikipedia