Listing the world's seven wonders
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Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in
Caracas, Venezuela.
An article from the Economist at www.economist.com
The ancient Greeks had their list of the seven wonders, dotted in and around the Mediterranean, to aid and entertain travellers. Of these only the Pyramids at Giza, in Egypt, remain.
But on Saturday July 7th at a glittering show in Lisbon, Portgual, the trick was repeated when a new list of seven wonders was unveiled.
Bernard Weber, a Swiss-Canadian explorer who devised this extravaganza, hopes it will put him on a par with Pierre de Coubertin, the Frenchman who revived the Olympics. An original list of 177 monuments was whittled down to 21 by a panel of architectural experts, chaired by a former boss of UNESCO.
This included widely-recognised monuments such as the Acropolis in Greece and the hidden city of Petra in Jordan. But in an effort to go farther afield than the Greeks managed, the Easter Island statues and the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, Japan, among others, were included too.
Mr Weber’s attempt to recreate an iconic list of landmarks is hardly original. Endless lists of “wonders”, whether ancient, medieval or modern, have been drawn up. The American Society of Civil Engineers declared its “Seven Wonders of the Modern World” in 1994, including the Panama Canal and the Channel Tunnel. A rival list of wonders dreamt up last year by two American media outlets included the internet and the polar ice caps.
What makes this attempt more notable is Mr Weber’s claim to be democratic. Whereas the other lists were decided upon by experts and judges, anyone with access to the internet or a mobile phone was invited to vote for the winners this time.
Inevitably, voters in some countries proved more enthusiastic than others. India has used Bollywood glamour to promote the Taj Mahal, one of the seven winners. Back in 2004, the screen diva Aishwarya Rai oversaw the launch of a balloon, inscribed with an exhortation to vote, which was then tethered to the site—to the horror of aesthetes. More recently a pop singer toured the country singing about the Taj Mahal.
In Brazil, the cost of voting via text was waived by telephone companies and the president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, encouraged citizens to take part. Perhaps as a result, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio was elected as one of the wonders. (The other winners included: the Chichén Itzá ruins in Mexico, the Great Wall of China, Peru's Machu Picchu, Petra in Jordan and the Colosseum in Italy).
But not everybody was keen. Egypt’s authorities called the competition “nonsense” . The pyramids are “living in the hearts of people around the globe, and don't need a vote to be among the world wonders,” said the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass. The pyramids were withdrawn.
UNESCO was also at pains to distance itself from the competition, saying there is “no comparison” between Mr Weber’s popular campaign and the jolly serious scientific work done by the UN experts at World Heritage sites. The UN body also grumbled that the results of the latest competition could not be considered democratic when many people have no access to the internet.
Does that mean the competition was worthless? Mr Weber’s privately-funded “New 7 Wonders Project” has pledged that half of all its net revenue will be used for the restoration of selected monuments. For some sites extra publicity may boost tourism, which may—or may not—help raise funds for their protection.
For the 100m or so people whom the organisers said voted by Saturday night, and for the many who watch a global broadcast of the results, the benefit presumably matched that of the ancient Greek travellers: the fun of it all.
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Expat Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in
Caracas, Venezuela.
© Copyright 2003 by Expat-Village.com
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