New 'seven wonders' announced
Sunday, 08 Jul 2007 08:50
The Great Wall of China is among the 'new' seven wonders
The new seven wonders of the world, chosen by 100 million voters in a major online poll, were revealed last night in Portugal.
Hilary Swank, Bipasha Basu and Ben Kingsley hosted the event in the Stadium of Light, Lisbon, announcing the winners from a shortlist of 21 nominees.
A host of celebrities including pop star Jennifer Lopez, astronaut Neil Armstrong, footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and singer Chaka Khan were in attendance, preferring to support this event rather than the higher-profile Live Earth concerts taking place around the world yesterday.
The seven wonders voted for were Chichen Itza in Mexico; the statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking Brazil; the Great Wall of China; Machu Picchu in Peru; Petra in Jordan; the Roman Coliseum in Italy; and the Taj Mahal in India.
Created in 2001 by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber, the N7W project has toured the world's 21 top sites from the 77 nominees it received.
Among the candidates which did not make it through to the final seven were the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Great Pyramids at Giza and the Sydney Opera House.
The N7W team are now working on a successor project, looking for the top seven wonders formed by nature.