The Seven Wonders of the World of the Ancient World are pretty fascinating. I wouldn’t have minded checking out the Hanging Gardens of Babylon myself.
Today, only one - the Great Pyramid at Giza - remains, so some wiseacre has decided to try and create modern wonders. I’m not sure if this means the Astrodome will still be the official eighth wonder. I not, somebody’s got some ’splainin’ to do.
Here’s a list of the 21 choices they’ve given people. It’s a decent list.
The Acropolis
Alhambra, Spain
Angkor, Camboida
The Pyramid at Chchen Itza
Christ Redeemer statue
The Colosseum in Rome
Easter Island Statues
Eiffel Tower
Great Wall of China
Hagia Sophia
Kiyomizu Temple
Kremlin/St. Basil
Machu Picchu
Neuschwanstein Castle
Petra, Jordan
Pyramids of Giza
Statue of Liberty
Stonehenge
Sydney Opera House
Taj Mahal
Timbuktu, Mali
Of the locations on this list, I’ve been fortunate enough to see four of the - the Statue of Liberty, the Pyramids at Giza, Stonehenge and The Acropolis in Athens. All were pretty damn amazing, but my list would not include all of them. To me, wonders connotate significant historical areas with incredbile significance. While I think the Opera House in Sydney is beautiful and the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower are certainly icons, none of them reach, for me at least, the realm of “wonder.”
My list would absolutely have to include the following:
The Pyramids of Giza - the Great Pyramid was already on the original list after all
The Acropolis - One of the great monuments still standing
The Colosseum in Rome - An incredible achievement and amazing it still is standing
The Great Wall of China - the only man-made structure visible from space
After that, it gets tricky for me. Some of them, I’ll admit, I don’t know much about. The Christ the Redeemer Statue, to me, doesn’t quite reach the level of “wonder” for me because it isn’t quite the same architectural achievement as the others.
My other three would likely go like this:
Taj Mahal - still one of the most incredible structures ever built
The Pyramid at Chchen Itza - maybe as important as the Pyramids at Giza
Stonehenge - this is still one of the more fascinating and mysterious ruins known to man
Many of the others are incredible and certainly rise to the level of “wonder,” but the seven above would be my personal choices. Go vote for your own.
[source]
How is Mall of America not on that list? Seriously.
Great Wall
Hagia Sofia (because it’s the only one I’ve been to!)
Easter Island
The Acropolis
The Pyramids of Giza
The Pyramid of Chichen Itza
and…
“In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history, an ancient race of people… the Druids. No one knows who they were or what they were doing… ”
That’s right…Stonehenge.
As much as I love the Eiffel Tower, I don’t think it - or the Statue of Liberty - belong on the list. Like you said, they should have some historical significance. I would definitely include the Colosseum in Rome on my list - that place is amazing! Matter of fact, most of my list would would look similar to yours.