Whither the latest list of the Seven Wonders of the World? Nowhere, if Egypt has anything to do with it, writes Nevine El-Aref On 7 July this year -- 7/7/7 -- the new Seven Wonders of the World will be announced in Lisbon, Portugal, the result of an international poll to compile the latest version of the list. The final seven will be chosen from a shortlist of 21 nominated sites across the planet. Yet, even though the Giza Pyramids have maintained their place through the ages, the idea of a new list has fallen flat here in Egypt where the Antiquities Authorities are bent on opposing the concept of a popular vote. When the poll was launched in 2001, 77 candidates were nominated, all of them meeting the criteria that they were built before 2000, and were still standing. Telephone and Internet votes have so far whittled this number down to 21. These are, in no particular order, the Taj Mahal; Stonehenge; the Athens Acropolis; the Great Wall of China; the Giza Pyramids; the Statue of Liberty; the Eiffel Tower; Peru's Machu Picchu; Istanbul's Haghia Sophia; the Kremlin and St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow; the Colosseum; Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle; Spain's Alhambra; Japan's Kiyomizu Temple; the Sydney Opera House; Cambodia's Angkor; Timbuktu; Petra; Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer; Easter Island; and Chichen Itza, Mexico. The poll was the brainchild of Swiss-Canadian aviator, explorer, museum curator and film director Bernard Weber, whose Seven New Wonders Foundation aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring important monuments. Money raised through the public votes will go towards conservation. The foundation receives further revenue from the sale of broadcasting rights. Anyone can cast their votes by logging on to the site. The first seven votes are free, after which subscribers can make subsequent votes by paying a $2 charge of which half goes to the conservation fund. Voters can, if they wish, register as a member of the Society of the Seven New Wonders. The first we hear of a compilation of the world's wonders is in the History of Herodotus in the fifth century BC. Several decades later another Greek scholar, the historian Callimachus of Cyrene (305--240 BC), chief librarian of the Alexandria Mouseion, listed the great monuments of his age in his Collection of Wonders Around the World. Unfortunately all we know about this work is its title, since it was lost along with the ancient Alexandria libraries and most of their contents. In 200 BC Philone of Bisanzi compiled another list of the most beautiful and extraordinary structures of his time. However the earliest extant list of the Seven Wonders of the World was compiled by Antipater of Sidon, who described the structures in a poem written about 140 BC in which he wrote: "I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Sun and the huge labour of the high Pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, 'Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand.'" The final list of the Seven Wonders was compiled during the Middle Ages. This comprised the seven most impressive monuments of the Ancient World: the Giza Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece, the Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Colossus of Rhodes. Unfortunately, the Pyramids of Giza are the only one of these surviving today. Weber's worldwide vote via the Internet will bring this list of the marvels up to date. He says the first profits from the "people's survey", operating under the slogan "Our heritage is our future", will be destined for the restoration of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan destroyed by the Taliban in 2000 . According to the society's website the new wonders will have one great advantage over their predecessors, in other words the existence of UNESCO and Cultural Heritage, which should prevent the loss of monuments considered to be symbols of art or history. Even so, with or without the help of UNESCO events such as the activities of the Taliban, the occupational invasion of Iraq and the bombardment of Lebanon, not to mention the wanton destruction of unsupervised sites by treasure-hunters and unharnessed tourists must be curbed if the world is not to be deprived of its valuable architectural treasures. Other lists have been proposed in the tradition of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, including human achievements and natural marvels. There is as yet, however, no general consensus on any count in particular. Late last year Weber embarked on a tour of the 21 nominated sites so as to arrange the candidates' certification. On his tour of the first 15 sites, Weber was given a welcoming reception . He told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Jordanians organised a spectacular reception for him attended by Queen Rania, who herself accepted Petra's certificate of candidature. In Mali, Weber was given an honorary doctorate from the Old Islamic University, and in China, no less than 1,000 people stood on the Great Wall, creating an unforgettable spectacle. In Greece, it was the president who received the certificate. Then he arrived in Egypt, where he was received less than cordially. "In all the previous countries we were received like royals and honoured because we are trying to do something positive," Weber told the Weekly. Here the planned press conference at which he was to hand over the certificate for the Pyramids was cancelled after Weber failed to gain security clearance from the Defence Ministry and the Tourist Police. The Egyptian Antiquities Authority has made public its opposition to the project. Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told the Weekly that the Giza Pyramids did not need to be put to the vote as they were the only one surviving of the seven ancient wonders. He suggested that Weber's organisation had no right to run such a project, being a private organisation without affiliation to any international scientific society or archaeological institute. Hawass claimed that it was not approved either by UNESCO or the Word Heritage Organisation. "How can ordinary people who do not have the experience or the knowledge about history vote on sites to be the new seven wonders of the world?" Hawass asked. Rebutting the notion of a "people's list", he said such a move could only be carried out by international archaeologists, historians and scientists under the umbrella of UNESCO. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni echoed Hawass's complaint, describing the project as "absurd" and its creator, Weber, as a man "concerned primarily with self-promotion". "The Giza Pyramids are a great monument which cannot be subjected to auction or comparison," Hosni insisted. Several Egyptologists have also expressed opposition to the scheme. Ali Radwan, head of the Arab Union of Archaeologists, said he rejected the project, while German Egyptologist Rainer Schudleman also said he was opposed to an organisation which was attempting to forge history. However Egyptologist Christian Leblanc, head of the French mission at the Serapeum at Saqqara chose to take a more pragmatic approach. He told the Weekly that the ancient wonders were a great selection related to the era and the person who constructed it, and that it was not fair to eliminate them or compare them to those built in modern times in a world that had witnessed great technological advances. "If such an organisation wants to compile a new list of seven wonders he can do whatever it likes, but still keeping the ancient list as it is," he said. Weber is offended by his reception in Egypt. Not finding anyone who would accept the Pyramids' official candidature certificate, he took himself off to the Giza Plateau, where he buried it. Yet whatever Egyptologists think, and whatever the other six successful candidates will be, it looks likely that the Giza Pyramids will stay on the list. But only time will tell. To view the list go to www.new7wonders.comwww.new7wonders.com/i
