by Lola
WOO HOO!! Break out the tequila and make it the good stuff!!!
Not that we didn’t think we wouldn’t make it nor that we hadn’t prevailed upon each and every one of our many friends and acquaintances to cast their vote… (By the way, this is merely a celebratory blog – for something more erudite I suggest reading Lisa Coleman’s “The Power of the Past”)
BUT WE MADE IT! As a 50% Mexican I can truly say I am 100% proud that my ancestors (half of them, anyway) built something so colossally amazing that it made the top seven. Mind you, their cousins in Peru made the list as well with the incredible Macchu Picchu, so it’s all in the family. Congratulations to you, Nacho, Beto, Chuy, Jacinto, Pancrasio, Rufino, etc. etc.!! You know who you were! OK, so maybe back then it was Elhuicatl, Paquilistli, Tonatij, Ixcualzi, Cualtzi Huicatl and Tlachichiquetl… What ev…
Anyway, here’s an excerpt from the breaking news on CNN.com, plus the entire list of New Wonders (sure to make it into next year’s version of Trivial Pursuit).
CHECK OUT: Time Magazine’s amazing photo essay at http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1639775,00.html and the New 7 Wonders Campaign website at http://www.new7wonders.com/
“The final tally produced this list of the world’s top human-built wonders:
• The Great Wall of China
• Petra in Jordan
• Brazil’s statue of Christ the Redeemer
• Peru’s Machu Picchu
• Mexico’s Chichen Itza pyramid
• The Colosseum in Rome
• India’s Taj Mahal
Before the vote ended Friday, organizers said more than 90 million votes had been cast for 21 sites.
Voting at the Web site, www.new7wonders.com, ended at 6 p.m. ET Friday. Traffic was so heavy Friday that the site was crashing at times.
One message urged voters to use text messages as an alternative form of voting. “Keep on voting, as it is your votes that decide the New 7 Wonders of the World,” the message said.
“We have traffic that is simply off the scale,” Tia Vering, spokeswoman for the “New 7 Wonders of the World” campaign, told CNN.com. “Things are just going ballistic.”
The new wonders were announced at a star-studded event Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal, that featured performances by Jennifer Lopez and Chaka Khan. The event was hosted by Oscar winners Hilary Swank and Ben Kingsley as well as Bollywood star Bipasha Basu.
he top contenders for the seven wonders were last made public in early June. Organizers have since been tight-lipped about the ever-changing list.
The oldest candidate was Britain’s Stonehenge; the newest was Australia’s Sydney Opera House. The U.S. Statue of Liberty also was among the choices.
Voting nearly doubled after the June results, when organizers said about 50 million votes had been cast. A single user can cast multiple votes.
To be considered for the competition, all structures had to be built or discovered before 2000. All are among top tourist attractions around the world.
Of the seven ancient wonders of the world, only one remains standing today, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
Some nations have enthusiastically endorsed the new wonders campaign. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Jordan’s Queen Rania actively promoted their countries’ hopefuls.
But the new wonders campaign hasn’t been universally recognized. The United Nations’ cultural organization, UNESCO, issued a statement saying it has “no link whatsoever” to the vote.
Egypt’s top antiquities expert also objected to the list. He said Egypt’s pyramids are a “symbol of the genius of the ancient people” — and are above any sort of online poll.
As a result, the organizers struck up a compromise. The pyramids have been assured honorary status, in addition to the new seven wonders.
The new wonders project was the brainchild of Swiss businessman Bernard Weber. He said he wanted to invite the people of the world to take part in selecting the world’s greatest wonders.
“So that everybody can decide what the new seven wonders should be and not some government, not some individuals, not some institutions,” he said.
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Vering said she believes the vote has accomplished that goal.
“We’ve managed to bring culture out of the museum — out of the dusty, dry academic corners — and have people talk about it,” she said. “That, we feel, is the greatest achievement of this campaign.”
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/07/06/seven.wonders/index.html