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.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the first known list of the most remarkable creations of classical antiquity, and was based on guide-books popular among Hellenic sight-seers and only includes works located around the Mediterranean rim. The number seven was chosen because the Greeks believed it to be the representation of perfection and plenty.[1] Many similar lists have been made.
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The historian Herodotus (484 – ca. 425 BCE), and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca. 305 – 240 BCE) at the Museum of Alexandria, made early lists of seven wonders but their writings have not survived, except as references. The seven wonders included:
The earliest lists had the Ishtar Gate as the seventh wonder of the world instead of the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
The list known today was compiled in the Middle Ages—by which time many of the sites were no longer in existence. Today, the only ancient world wonder that still exists is the Great Pyramid of Giza.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, some writers wrote about lists with names such as Wonders of the Middle Ages, Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages, Seven Wonders of the Medieval Mind, and Architectural Wonders of the Middle Ages. However it is unlikely that these lists originated in the Middle Ages because the word medieval was not invented until the Enlightenment-era, and the concept of a Middle Age did not become popular until the 16th century. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable refers to them as "later list[s]"[2] suggesting the lists were created after the Middle Ages.
Many of the structures on these lists were built much earlier than the Medieval Ages, but were well known.[3]
Typically representative are:[2][3][4][5]
Other sites sometimes included on such lists:
Following in the tradition of the classical list, modern people and organisations have made their own lists of wonderful things ancient and modern. Some of the most notable lists are presented below.
The American Society of Civil Engineers compiled a list of wonders of the modern world:[10]
| Wonder | Date started | Date finished | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Channel Tunnel | December 1, 1987 | May 6, 1994 | Strait of Dover, between the United Kingdom and France |
| CN Tower | February 6, 1973 | June 26, 1976, tallest freestanding structure in the world 1976–2007. | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Empire State Building | January 22, 1930 | May 1, 1931, Tallest structure in the world 1931–1967. First building with 100+ stories. | New York, NY, U.S. |
| Golden Gate Bridge | January 5, 1933 | May 27, 1937 | Golden Gate Strait, north of San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Itaipu Dam | January 1970 | May 5, 1984 | Paraná River, between Brazil and Paraguay |
| Delta Works/ Zuiderzee Works | 1920 | May 10, 1997 | Netherlands |
| Panama Canal | January 1, 1880 | January 7, 1914 | Isthmus of Panama |
In 2001 an initiative was started by the Swiss corporation New7Wonders Foundation to choose the New7Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments.[11] Twenty-one finalists were announced January 1, 2006.[12] Egyptians were not happy that the only surviving original wonder, the Great Pyramid of Giza, would have to compete with the likes of the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, and other landmarks, calling the project absurd. In response, Giza was named an honorary Candidate.[13] The results were announced on July 7, 2007, in Lisbon, Portugal :[14]
| Wonder | Date of construction | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Great Wall of China | 5th century BCE – 16th century CE | China |
| Petra | c.100 BCE | Jordan |
| Christ the Redeemer | Opened 12 October 1931 | Brazil |
| Machu Picchu | c.1450 CE | Peru |
| Chichen Itza | c.600 CE | Mexico |
| Colosseum | Completed 80 CE | Italy |
| Taj Mahal | Completed c.1648 CE | India |
| Great Pyramid of Giza (Honorary Candidate) | Completed c.2560 BCE | Egypt |
In November 2006 the American national newspaper USA Today in conjunction with the American television show Good Morning America revealed a list of New Seven Wonders as chosen by six judges.[15] The wonders were announced one per day over a week on Good Morning America. An eighth wonder was chosen on November 24, 2006 from viewer feedback.[16]
| Number | Wonder | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Potala Palace | Lhasa, Tibet, China |
| 2 | Old City of Jerusalem | Jerusalem[n 1] |
| 3 | Polar ice caps | Polar regions |
| 4 | Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument | Hawaii, United States |
| 5 | Internet | Earth |
| 6 | Mayan ruins | Yucatán Peninsula, México |
| 7 | Great Migration of Serengeti and Masai Mara | Tanzania and Kenya |
| 8 | Grand Canyon (viewer-chosen eighth wonder) | Arizona, United States |
Similar to the other lists of wonders, there is no consensus on a list of seven natural wonders of the world, and there has been debate over how large the list should be. One of the many existing lists was compiled by CNN:[17]
New7Wonders of Nature (2007-11), a contemporary effort to create a list of seven natural wonders chosen through a global poll, was organized by the same group as the New7Wonders of the World campaign.
The Seven Natural Wonders[18] is a not-for-profit endeavor created to protect the seven natural wonders that have already been established.
The Seven Underwater Wonders of the World was a list drawn up by CEDAM International, an American-based non-profit group for divers, dedicated to ocean preservation and research.
In 1989 CEDAM brought together a panel of marine scientists, including Dr. Eugenie Clark, to pick underwater areas which they considered to be worthy of protection. The results were announced at The National Aquarium in Washington DC by actor Lloyd Bridges, star of TV's Sea Hunt:[19]
British author Deborah Cadbury wrote Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, a book telling the stories of seven great feats of engineering of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2003 the BBC made a seven-part documentary series on the book, with each episode dramatising the construction of one of the wonders. The seven industrial wonders are:
Numerous other authors and organisations have composed lists of the wonders of the world. Travel writer Howard Hillman published two books on the subject, one with 10 man-made wonders, and one with 10 natural wonders.[20][21] British biographer, science writer, and novelist Ronald W. Clark published a book of man-made and natural wonders titled Wonders of the World, which lists 52 wonders, one for each week of the year.[22]