SEVEN WONDERS of the ANCIENT WORLD
Only the Pyramids of Giza still exist
1. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
2. The Colossus of Rhodes
3. The Lighthouse at Alexandria
4. Statue of Zeus at Olympia
5. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
6. Mausoleum Maussollos at Halicanessus
7.* Pyramids of Giza
SEVEN WONDERS of the MEDIEVAL WORLD
1. Stonehenge*
2. Colosseum*
3. Catacombs of Kom at Shogofa* Alexandria, Egypt.
4. Great Wall of China*
5. Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
6. Hagia Sophia*
7. Leaning Tower of Pisa*
SEVEN WONDERS of the MODERN WORLD
1. Great Wall of China*
2. Petra*
3. Christ the Redeemer* (Rio de Janeiro)
4. Machu Picchu*
5. Chichen Itza*
6. Taj Mahal*
7. Pyramids at Giza*
SEVEN NATURAL WONDERS of the WORLD
1. Grand Canyon*
2. Great Barrier Reef*
3. Harbour of Rio Janeiro*
4. Mt Everest*
5. Aurora Borealis*
6. Paricutin Volcano*
7. Victoria Falls*
NEW 7 WONDERS FOUNDATION
The Swiss-based New7Wonders Foundation was established in 2001 by the Swiss-born Canadian filmmaker, author and adventurer Bernard Weber to contribute to the protection of the world’s human-built and natural heritage and to foster respect for our planet’s diversity.
Global Memory is the documentation and 3D virtual recording of all New7Wonders.
The foundation conducts global election campaigns – to date, over 600 million votes have been cast online by citizens worldwide. The present campaign (due to start in Oct 2026) is 7 Wonders of New Cities.
A. NEW 7 WONDERS of the WORLD
New7Wonders Foundation used 200 monuments in 2007
1. Great Wall of China*. 7th century BC.
2. Petra*. 100 BC
3. Machu Picchu*. 1450
4. Chichen Itza*. 600
5. Colosseum*. 80
6. Taj Mahal*. 1648
7. Great Pyramid of Giza*. 2560 BC
B. NEW 7 NATURAL WONDERS of the WORLD
This was decided by a world vote in 2011. Countries competed to send in votes, making the list skewed. Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam voted heavily for their favourites. To leave the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Himalayas off any list discredits it. Iguazu Falls is a legitimate choice
1. Jeju Island* – South Korea
2. Komodo Island* – Indonesia
3. Iguazu Falls* – Argentina/Brazil
4. Puerto Princesa Underground River* – Philippines
5. Table Mountain*
6. Halong Bay*, Vietnam
7. Amazon Rainforest*
Runner-Up Wonders of the World
1. Bu Tinah Shoals
2. Dead Sea*
3. Great Barrier Reef*
4. Jerto Grotto* – Lebanon
5. Kilimanjaro*
6. Masurian Lake District* – Poland
7. Sanderbans National Park* – Bangladesh and India
C. NEW 7 WONDERS CITIES
This is the third in a series of Internet-based polls operated by the New 7 Wonders Foundation. The poll began in 2007 with more than 1200 nominees from 220 countries. A longlist of 77, limited to a maximum of one city per country, was shortlisted to 28, which was then opened to a public vote and published in 2014.
1 Beirut*, Lebanon 3000 BC
2. Doha*, Quatar 1825
3. Durban, South Africa 1880
4. Havana*, Cuba 1519
5. Kuala Lumpur*, Malaysia 1859
6. La Paz*, Bolivia 1548
7. Vigan*, Philippines 1572
7 WONDERS of ENGINEERING
1. Three Gorges Dam*, China. 2010. Built on the Yangtze River, the dam is 2,335m long and 181m above bedrock, creating a reservoir 660 km long at full capacity. Five times the size of Hoover Dam, it displaced 1.3 million people. It was expected to provide 10% of China’s total power needs, but in 2011, it only supported 1.7%. It has 2 sets of 5 locks each to transport ships over the dam, making the river navigable 2,400 km from Shanghai.
2. Channel Tunnel, England/France*. Completed in 1995, it is 50 km long, with the undersea portion 37km long. Two rail tunnels are 7.6m in diameter.
3. Akashi Kaikyo Bridge*, Japan. It connects Kobe on the mainland of Honshu to Iwaya on Awayi Island. At 3.9 km long, it is the longest suspension bridge in the world. It can withstand 8.5-scale earthquakes and 286 km winds. Tolls are expected to pay for the bridge in 30 years, but only because Japan’s interest rates are near zero.
4. The Big Dig*, Boston. This reroutes Interstate 93, 5.6 km under Boston. Cost 14.6 billion.
5. Falkirk Wheel, Scotland*. This rotating boat lift connects the Firth/Clyde Canal with the Union Canal with a height difference of 24m, reconnecting the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. The Union Canal is still 11m higher and connected by 2 locks. Before 1933, there were 11 locks connecting the two canals, but it took a whole day to traverse them and they fell into disuse by 1962 and the mid 70’s, respectively.
6. Shanghai Transportation Train*, China. Only 30.5km long, this maglev train connects Shanghai to Pudong International Airport at an average speed of 350km/hour with a capacity of 430km/hour.
7. Taipei 101*, Taipei, Taiwan. Now the 4th highest building in the world, it was the first to reach 500m.
AMERICAN SOCIETY of CIVIL ENGINEERS 7 WONDERS of the WORLD
1. Channel Tunnel*. 1994. A 50-kilometre underwater tunnel connecting Britain to Europe.
2. CN Tower*, 1976. Tallest freestanding structure 1976-2007
3. Empire State Building*, 1931. Tallest structure 1931-1967. First with 100+ stories
4. Golden Gate Bridge*. 1937. A masterpiece of suspension bridge design, managing high winds and deep water.
5. Itaipu Dam* (Brazil/Paraguay). 1984, One of the world’s largest hydroelectric facilities, representing massive hydraulic engineering.
6. Delta Works/Zuiderzee Works*. 1997. An extensive system of locks and dams protects the country from the sea.
7. Panama Canal*. 1914
SEVEN WONDERS of the INDUSTRIAL WORLD
British author Deborah Cadbury picked 19th and early 20th-century wonders.
1. SS Great Eastern*. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel as the first ship entirely made out of iron and the most luxurious vessel of the day. The ship was a marvel of shipbuilding, but its construction was marred by accidents, scandal, misfortune and Brunel’s early demise in 1859 and the popular belief that the ship was jinxed.
2. Bell Rock Lighthouse. Off the coast of Angus, Scotland, it is the world’s oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse. It was built between 1807 and 1810 by Robert Stevenson on the Bell Rock in the North Sea, 11 miles (18 km) east of the Firth of Tay. Standing 35 metres (115 ft) tall, its light is visible from 56 km inland.
Before 1800, six ships wrecked on it every winter, and in one storm, seventy ships were lost off the east coast of Scotland. 60 men worked 20 hours per day to build the lighthouse. The rock is under 12 feet of water at high tide. The base was constructed to such a high standard that it has not been replaced or adapted in 200 years.
3. Brooklyn Bridge*. Designed by John Augustus Roebling and constructed by his son, Washington Roebling and Washington’s wife, Emily Roebling (she taught herself engineering and continued construction after his health was destroyed by the decompression sickness he suffered, owing to the length of time he spent working and overseeing matters in the pressured atmosphere of the underwater caissons used to build the bridge.
4. London Sewerage System. In the 1850s, this replaced the antiquated medieval system, inadequate for the needs of the then-largest metropolis in the world, causing epidemics of disease and a permanent foul stench, also known as the Great Stink. Joseph Bazalgette was the brilliant engineer who transformed the streets above resulting in the end of the epidemics of cholera and typhoid that had ravaged the population.
5. First Transcontinental Railroad*. United the eastern and western seaboards of the United States. Started in Sacramento by a consortium of local shopkeepers with no experience in building a railroad, they built from west to east through the forbidding Sierra Nevada mountains with the help of Chinese labourers. The Union Pacific was built from east to west, dealing with the lawless Wild West, hostile Indians, and financial corruption and scandal.
6. Panama Canal*. The first attempt to construct the canal by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal, was abandoned because of tropical diseases (which killed over 22,000 men) and the difficulty of constructing a sea-level canal through the mountains. The resulting financial scandals not only ruined de Lesseps and many investors, it also brought down the French government. Seventeen years later, the United States attempt to build a sea-level canal once again failed. Instead, the canal was built with locks.
7. Hoover Dam*. Built during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the ruthless pace set by Frank Crowe, the builder, whose eagerness to complete the project well before schedule exploited the workforce (who were desperate for any employment and were forced to accept conditions of extreme hardship in the process), resulting in many deaths and the eventual construction of a new city to house the workers
USA TODAY’S NEW SEVEN WONDERS
Six judges made the list in 2006.
1. Potala Palace*. Lhasa, Tibet.
2. Old City of Jerusalem*.
3. Polar Ice Caps*.
4. Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Hawaii
5. Internet*.
6. Mayan Ruins*.
7. Great Migration of Serengeti and Masai Mara. Tanzania and Kenya*.
8. Grand Canyon* (viewer chosen 8th wonder).
SEVEN WONDERS of the UNDERWATER WORLD
This was chosen by a panel of marine scientists.
1. Lumbini, Nepal* – Birth place of Buddha.
2. Belize Barrier Reef*
3. Great Barrier Reef*
4. Deep-Sea Vents
5. Galapagos Islands*
6. Lake Baikal*
7. Northern Red Sea*
I would add 1. Palau (Blue Corner, German Channel) 2. Raja Ampats, Indonesia 3. Sipadan, Sabah Malaysia.