Mankind voted 7 new wonders of the world

On July 7, 2007, a solemn ceremony will be held in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon to announce the list of 7 new wonders of the world. This is the result of a worldwide poll campaign initiated by film producer Bernard Weber in 1999.

More than 2,000 years have passed since the time of humanity's selection of its first 7 wonders, the world has grown very rapidly with countless new wonders. Now, people from all over the world can vote on a list of new wonders of mankind through the most modern means of communication such as the Internet, SMS or phone. At the time of only half a year after the announcement ceremony, a list of top new wonders has been finalized with 21 works .

'This international election campaign is very exciting - officials from the New7Wonders fund in Zurich (Switzerland) responsible for organizing the campaign said that by the end of November 2006, the number of people voting has exceeded 20 million, and by the beginning of 2007 it could reach 100 million ' . Whether according to the organizers, regional and national factors still affect the election results. For example, the Chinese voted for the Great Wall, the Indians voted for the Taj Mahal, Latin American residents often voted for the ancient city of Machu Picchu of the Inca in Peru or Easter Island with pictures The statue is full of mysteries, Africans of course choose the ancient city of Timbuktu (Mali). But the organizers said that this prejudice factor will not affect much to the final result. The most important issue according to them, is not the factor of national or geographic priorities, but the agreed selection criteria.

Easter Island Island (Photo: Ganeandmarshall)

He gave birth to the idea of ​​new wonders

It is also worth mentioning that the father of Bernard Weber, a 7-wonders project - is a Canadian citizen (he was born in 1952 in Geneva - Switzerland), Weber graduated from film director at the University. New York synthesis. Later, he worked as an assistant to legendary film producer Federico Fellini in Rome. In 1979, Weber set up his first film called ' Hotel Locarno ' and immediately won several international film awards. After another series of successes, Weber returned to Zurich to become Director of the Center Le Corbusier Museum.

Weber is a fan of adventures and likes to travel around the world (he speaks fluent 5 languages). In fact, there are no famous relics or landmarks in the world that Weber has never been to. By 1999, he argued that ' it is time to do something new, to link and visualize the pride of mankind with world-wide cultural heritage '. That is also the idea of ​​the ' 7 New World Wonders ' project.

After the first difficult steps, Weber and his colleagues learned how to promote the bold idea of ​​the project, making it quick to get special attention. Up to this point, the New7Wonders Committee of Experts has included many leading architects from around the world, headed by the former Director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Federico. Mayor. It was this prestigious Committee in 2006 that followed the preliminary voting results that shortened the list of candidates for the title of 'New 7 Wonders ' from 77 to 21 works today.

According to the plan, the total amount of Weber's project team earned from sponsors, as well as the sale of television rights during the announcement of the final results on July 7, 2007, will be used primarily to restoring cultural relics that have been and are being threatened. The first goal to be restored with this money is the overall Buddha statues that were previously destroyed by the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Difficult choice

Although there is only half a year left, it is clear that choosing the final list for the new seven wonders of the world is still an extremely difficult task. Each candidate in this final round (up to 21 works) himself can be considered a great cultural heritage of mankind. But on the other hand, every nation, nation or geographic area has its own concepts of a building that is considered ' wonders '.

There have been many proposals from different organizations or groups of people on this list. For example, just before 2000, the American Civil Engineers Association proposed a list of seven new wonders of their own, according to the same criteria as choosing the previous seven wonders of the ancient world - meaning is to demonstrate technological achievements, not simply outstanding large-scale architectures. According to these criteria, the proposed works can be referred to the Manche Strait tunnel connecting England and France, the Empire State Building skyscraper in New York, the ' Golden Gate ' bridge in San Francisco and the canal. Panama etc . The famous CNN TV channel in the US offers a list of wonders from nature such as the Gulf of Rio-de-Janeiro, Mount Everest, Victoria waterfall, etc.

Empire State Building in New York (Photo: opera.com)

Before countless suggestions like this, Bernard Weber was still very confident. He and his colleagues are still working hard to make a list of 7 new wonders of the world that are most meaningful at the right time.

Quỳnh Lai (synthesized)