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World New
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Great Wall of China
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<Chinese version>
New Seven Wonders of the World
is a contemporary attempt to create an
alternative to historical lists of the Seven
Wonders of the World. The result of a worldwide
popularity poll organized by the private,
non-profit New Open World Corporation (NOWC),
its final list was announced on July 7, 2007 in
Lisbon, Portugal, in the Estádio da Luz, SL
Benfica's.
The Swiss-based NOWC claims more than 100
million votes were cast through the Internet or
by telephone. Since nothing prevented fans,
government or tourism agencies from casting
multiple votes, the poll is considered
"decidedly unscientific". In its Terms and
Conditions, NOWC reserved "the right at its
absolute discretion to exclude [any] votes" that
were cast. No information
has been given as to any excluded votes.
NOWC relied on private donations, the sale of
merchandise such as shirts and cups, and revenue
from selling broadcasting rights.
The program drew a wide range of official
reaction. Some countries touted their finalist
and tried to get more votes cast for it, while
others downplayed or criticized the contest.
UNESCO has distanced itself from the
undertaking.
History
The origin of the idea of "seven wonders of the
world" dates back to Herodotus (484 BC - 425 BC)
and
Callimachus
(305 BC - 240 BC), who made lists which included
the Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of
Babylon, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of
Artemis at Ephesus, Mausoleum of Maussollos at
Halicarnassus,
Colossus of Rhodes and Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Only the Great Pyramid of Giza is still
standing. The other six were destroyed by
earthquake, fire or other reasons.
The finalist candidates for the New Seven
Wonders.
According to the NOWC milestones page,
Swiss-originated
québecois
businessman Bernard Weber launched the project
in September 1999. The project's web site
started in 2001 when Mr. Weber paid $700 for a
site based in Canada.To be included on the new
list, the wonders had to be man made, completed
before 2000, and in an "acceptable" state of
preservation. By November 24, 2005, 177
monuments were up for consideration. On January
1, 2006, the NOWC said the list had been
narrowed to 21 sites, later reduced to 20
following complaints from Egypt over the
Pyramids' inclusion as a candidate in
competition with others.
A midpoint tally reported a top 10 list which
included all 7 winners, plus the Acropolis,
Easter Island, and the Eiffel Tower.
Federico Mayor, a former UNESCO Director
General, was the president of project's expert
panel as an individual. NOWC is not connected
with UNESCO.
Organisers stated that their aim was to use part
of the revenue from the contest between the
well-known monuments, from future votes, related
merchandise, and use of the voters database, to
set up, or contribute to, various restoration
projects in the world
After the final announcement, however, NOWC
which had promised to give 50 per cent of the
revenues from its campaign, said it didn¡¯t earn
anything from the exercise and barely recovered
its investments.
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