Seven Wonders of the World
I'm getting tired of having to look these
up every time I forget them, so here they
are for my (and your) reference.
[Source:
Unabashed Librarian, #78:9-10, 1991.]
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
This is the famous list compiled by the ancient
Greeks and is what most people think of as simply the
"Seven Wonders of the World". Of these, only the
Pyramids still exist although the ruins of the Lighthouse
have been found in Alexandria's harbor, and there are plans to rebuild
the Colossus of Rhodes. The one problem with this list is that
it is limited to the Mediterraian world that the Greeks would
have been familiar with.
- Pyramids of Egypt
- Colossus of Rhodes
- Hanging Gardens of Babylon
- Mauseoleum at Halicanassus
- Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria
- Statue of Zeus at Olympia
- Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Seven Wonders of the Natural World
Some sources list the auroras instead of the
prehistoric caves. This list came from the 1984 World Book
Encyclopedia, but later editions of the same encyclopedia
eliminated the article entirely. So it may be that there is no
definitive list.
- Mount Everest
- Victoria Falls
- Grand Canyon
- Great Barrier Reef
- Prehistoric Caves in France and Spain
- Paricutin Volcano, Mexico
- Harbor at Rio de Janeiro
Seven Wonders of the Medieval World
There are a couple of odd choices here.
Stonehenge is old enough to be classified with the Ancient
Wonders, although this may not have been known when the
list was compiled. And the Colosseum dates more from
late antiquity, but I guess they wanted to honor it somewhere
in a list of wonders.
- Colosseum of Rome
- Catacombs of Alexandria
- Great Wall of China
- Stonehenge
- Leaning Tower of Pisa
- Porcelain Tower of Nanking
- Hagia Sophia in Istanbul
(sometimes called the Church of Saint Sophia)
Seven Wonders of the Modern World
This was compiled early in the twentieth
century, and many things have been built since then that might
bump some of these from the top seven. Many organizations
have created their own more recent lists, but each one is
different, and none have been universally accepted to
replace this one.
- Eiffel Tower
- Empire State Building
- Suez Canal
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Dneproges Dam on the Dnepr River in Russia
- Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, England
- Alaska (Alcan) Highway
The Ultimate Ten
This is a series broadcast on
The Learning Channel.
We can use it to get somewhat more modern and world inclusive lists,
but they represent the opinions of the show's
producers, not an "official" consensus like the
lists above.
Ultimate Ten Man-Made Wonders of the World
Wonders that still exist from all times and places.
- Great Wall of China
- Pyramids
- Angkor Wat
- Panama Canal
- Sydney Opera House
- Taj Mahal
- Mount Rushmore
- Trans-Siberian Railroad
- Machu Picchu
- Golden Gate Bridge
Ultimate Ten Engineering Triumphs
These could qualify as a more up-to-date
list of the Wonders of the Modern World.
- Space Station Alpha : the international space
station to be completed in 2006
- Akashi Kaikyo Bridge : the longest suspension bridge in
world (2.5 miles), linking Kobe and Awaji in Japan
- Biosphere 2 : a self-contained miniature version of
the planet Earth in Arizona
- CERN's Giant Collider : the world's largest scientific
instrument, seven miles in circumference
- Itaipu Dam : the world's largest, on the Piranha
River between Brazil and Paraguay
- Aquarius : underwater research laboratory
near Florida
- Petronas Towers : in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, the
tallest buildings in the world
(Note: in 2003, 1483 foot tall Petronas Towers
were surpassed by the 1667 foot Taipei 101 tower in
Taiwan. In 2007, the still-under-construction
Burj Dubai
(renamed Burj Khalifa 2009)
in the United Arab Emirates reached 1,921 feet
and is expected to reach over 2,275 feet when
finished in 2008. In the related category of
"tallest free standing structure"
(whatever that means) are the Indos Telecom
Tower in Jakarta, Indonesia (under-construction,
1,831 ft), the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada (1,815),
the Ostankino Tower in Moscow, Russia, (1,772),
the Xi'an Broadcasting, Telephone & TV Tower
in Xi'an, China (1,542), and the Oriental Pearl
TV Tower in Shanghai, China (1,535). The tallest
building in the United States is the Sears Tower
in Chicago (1,450), but the proposed new World
Trade Center in New York will stand 1776
feet.
- Oresund Fixed Link : ten mile bridge and tunnel
connecting Denmark and Sweden
- Airships : the rebirth of zeppelins
- Toronto Sky Dome : a baseball stadium with a
retractable roof
The New Seven
Wonders
This website conducted a worldwide
poll where visitors to the site could vote for the things
that they thought should be on a list of seven wonders.
- Great Wall of China
- Lost City of Petra : Jordan
- Statue of Christ the Redeemer : Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Machu Picchu : Peru
- Chichén Itzá : Mexico
- Roman Colosseum : Italy
- Taj Mahal : India
I'd agree with the Great Wall and the Taj Mahal,
but I'd have to think about the rest. The absence of the
Egyptian pyramids makes the whole list rather suspect.
They have a new poll where you can vote for the
New Seven
Wonders of Nature.