Wadda Wonderful World

At the moment I'm working on putting together my deep thoughts for another post. To tide you over until then, I wanted to post something I got off of my good friend's blog.

One of my favourite books when I was a kid was a THICK paperback filled with single page non-fiction articles ranging from the fabled city of Atlantis to how to make an Egyptian mummy. The Kid's Know-Power Book consumed many of my childhood hours, giving me fun facts to ponder over the rest of my life. One of those articles had to do with the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. These were really inspiring to me and I was humbled to see the only surviving wonder when I visitied the Pyramids outside of Cairo in the summer of 2004. (Fun Fact:The area covered by the Great pyramid can accommodate St Peter's in Rome, the cathedrals of Florence and Milan, and Westminster and St Paul's in London combined.)

What about the others you wonder? Where did they go? What happened? Well wonder no more dear Danifesto reader! Via Wikipedia, here is a list of each wonder, when it was built, who built it, notable features and when and how it was destroyed:
Great Pyramid of Giza, 2650-2500 BC, Egyptians
Built as the tomb of Fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu.
Still standing
-
Hanging Gardens of Babylon,600 BC,Babylonians
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high (although some archaeological findings suggest otherwise).
After 1st century BC, Earthquake

Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, 550 BC, Lydians, Persians, Greeks
Dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis, it took 120 years to build. Herostratus burned it down in an attempt to achieve lasting fame.
356 BC, Arson

Statue of Zeus at Olympia, 435 BC, Greeks
Occupied the whole width of the aisle of the temple that was built to house it, and was 40 feet (12 meters) tall.
5th-6th centuries AD, Fire

Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, 351 BC, Persians, Greeks
Stood approximately 45 meters (135 feet) tall with each of the four sides adorned with sculptural reliefs. Origin of the word mausoleum.
by AD 1494, Earthquake

Colossus of Rhodes, 292-280 BC, Hellenistic Greece
A giant statue of the Greek god Helios roughly the same size as today's Statue of Liberty in New York.
224 BC, Earthquake

Lighthouse of Alexandria, 3rd century BC, Hellenistic Egypt
Between 115 and 135 metres (383 - 440 ft) tall it was among the tallest man-made structures on Earth for many centuries.
AD 1303-1480, Earthquake
(For those of you keeping score, that's four from earthquakes and two from fire!)

My friend's recent blog post alerted me to recent efforts to designate Seven NEW Wonders of the World. So I went there to look at the choices and cast my vote.

I must say this was pretty cool and it was hard to decide what to vote for and what to leave out. Plus out of the twenty-one nominated places, I had personally been to five! Not too shabby for a boy from Kansas!

To help my decision making, I decided to first eliminate everything that was too modern because really, they haven't stood the test of time. So that cut out the Eiffel Tower, Sydney Opera House, the Christ Redeemer and the Statue of Liberty. Then I voted for the Pyramids first. I feel it's only fair because they were among the original wonders. (It's interesting to note that Egypt feels that the Pyramids shouldn't even have to compete with the other wonders nominated!)

My next votes were for buildings that are widely considered the most beautiful in the world. So with this mind, I voted for the Taj Mahal and the Hagia Sophia. I've toured the Hagia Sophia and to this day I'm still in awe of how beautiful the huge mosaics were! I have a couple of friends that have been to the Taj Mahal and they say it is even more beautiful than the pictures!

That left me with four votes. I just had to include the Great Wall of China. I've climbed it with my cool cousin (who can forget those uneven, irregular, worn steps?) and it is an incredible feat of human accomplishment. Plus it has been said that it's the only man-made object visible from outer space (although this is disputed) so I think that makes it pretty "wonder-worthy."

I then realized while I had voted for wonders in Asia, Europe and Africa, there was nothing from the New World. That led me to vote for Chichen Itza and Machu Pichu. These both have the monolithic traits that I feel the Wonders of the World should have. Chichen Itza is far more complex than the Pyramids and I've heard that you can see a shadow of a snake creep up the side of it. I like how Machu Pichu was a select city for nobility up amongst the clouds. From what I've been told, this looks amazing! (Fun Fact: Machu Picchu recently appeared in advertisements by Royal Nepal Airlines encouraging tourism to Nepal. A Peruvian mountaineer apparently noticed the advertisement while visiting India and alerted Peruvian authorities. Royal Nepal Airlines has apologised to Peru and has apparently corrected the error!)

My final vote was really hard. I really wanted to vote for Petra because it's so amazing and the incredible Angkor Wat was also a strong contender. However I ended up casting my vote for the Easter Island statues because they have the same sense of mystery and awe that the Pyramids hold. It is my hope that some day I can travel to the majority of these wonders before I die or earthquakes, war or fire destroy them!

How would you have voted? Feel free to comment and/or go and cast your own vote!