New 7 Wonders of the World

Bernard Weber is founder and president of the New7Wonders Campaign.
After 7 years of campaigning and 100 million votes received, the results of the world’s first-ever global vote were announced on July 7, 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal.
A little more then 2,200 years after the Ancient 7 Wonders (which represented buildings built over a period of 2,000 years) were declared in 200 B.C. by a single man, Philon of Byzantium in Athens, more than 100 million votes from people from every corner and country in the world, elected the New 7 Wonders of the World.
This truly new set of 7 Wonders covers, once again, the time span of 2,000 years—from the Arab city of Petra and the Roman Colosseum, both of which date from the 1st Century A.D., to the wide-armed statue of Christ Redeemer on Rio de Janeiro’s Corcovado mountain, built in 1931.
The most weighty role in choosing the New7Wonders played the children and young people of our world. Children up to a certain age do not have a strong national sense of pride, so they were our most objective voters, they voted for what they genuinely liked best.
People from all over the world voted for what they thought deserved to be new wonder, no metter which country they come from.
More people from Korea and Japan voted for the Eiffel Tower than did people from France. Many children worldwide loved Neuschwanstein Castle, but the Germans didn’t. The United States, whose inhabitants voted very passionately and in truly huge numbers, did not vote for their Statue of Liberty.
Reflecting the diversity of our world, there are three of the New 7 Wonders in Latin America, two in Asia, one in the Middle-East and one in Europe. They represent some of the most important civilizations of the past two millennia — Arab, Chinese, Inca, Indian, Mayan and Roman.
There was 21 New 7 Wonders Finalist Candidates. Although only 7 wonders were selected , all of the finalists and a lot of candidates represent the best that people and civilizations have left behind. So, they all will find their place on this blog...