The origin of the idea of seven wonders of the world dates back to Herodotus (484 BC – 425 BC) and Callimachus (305 BC – 240 BC), who made lists which included the Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes and Lighthouse of Alexandria. Only the Great Pyramid of Giza is still standing. The other six were destroyed by earthquake, fire or other reasons.[7]
The finalist candidates for the New Seven Wonders.
According to the New 7 Wonders milestones page,[8], Swiss-originated Québécois filmmaker and aviator Bernard Weber launched the project in September 1999. The project's web site started in 2001 when Mr. Weber paid $700 for a site based in Canada.[1] To be included on the new list, the wonders had to be man made, completed before 2000, and in an acceptable state of preservation. By November 24, 2005, 177 monuments were up for consideration. On January 1, 2006, the New 7 Wonders Foundation said the list had been narrowed to 21 sites,[9] later reduced to 20 following complaints from Egypt over the Pyramids' inclusion as a candidate in competition with others.
The project assigned what it called attributes to each finalist, such as perseverance for the Great Wall of China, passion for the Taj Mahal, and awe for the Easter Island statues.
A midpoint tally reported a top 10 list which included all 7 winners, plus the Acropolis, Easter Island, and the Eiffel Tower.[10]
Federico Mayor, a former UNESCO Director General, was the president of project's expert panel as an individual.[11] New 7 Wonders is not connected with UNESCO.[12]
Organisers stated that their aim was to use part of the revenue from the contest between the well-known monuments, from future votes, related merchandise, and use of the voters database,[13] to set up, or contribute to, various restoration projects in the world.[14][15][2]
After the final announcement, however, New 7 Wonders said it didn’t earn anything from the exercise and barely recovered its investments less
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