Essay on The Seven New Wonders of The World Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.
The project named as ‘New 7 Wonders of the World’ was launched, as a private initiative, by Bernard Weber of Swiss-origin, in 1999. The New Open World Corporation and relevant website were established in 2001. The objective of the New 7 Wonders Foundation was to revive the ‘seven wonders of the ancient world’ concept, and prepare a list of modern ‘new 7 wonders of the world’ through a popular vote.
Herodotus (484 BC-425 BC) and Callimachus (305 BC-240 BC) had listed the ‘ancient’ 7 wonders of the world as: 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. Of these, only the Great Pyramid of Giza is still standing; other six were destroyed in earthquake, fire, or due to other reasons.
For inclusion in the list of ‘new 7 wonders’ , the site had to be man-made, completed before the year 2000, and be in an acceptable state of preservation. People were invited to cast their votes through the internet or telephone. Over 100 million votes were cast to select `new 7 wonders’ from among the sites in 200 countries of the world. There was no check on multiple voting. By November 2005, 177 monuments were up for consideration. On 1 January 2006, the list was narrowed down to 21 sites. Later, following complaints from Egypt over the inclusion of their ancient Great Pyramid in the list of ‘new 7 wonders’, it was reduced to 20. A midpoint tally had a top 10 list which included all 7 winners, plus Acropolis (Greece), Easter Island Moais (Chile) and the Eiffel Tower (France). T
The winners were announced on 7 July 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal.
The project had assigned attributes to each finalist, such as perseverance for the Great Wall of China and passion for the Taj Mahal.
In India, the movement had gathered momentum and reached a crescendo in July 2007 with news channels, radio stations, and many celebrities asking the public to vote. The Taj Mahal made it to the list of ‘new 7 wonders of the world’
The organizing foundation had relied on private donations, the sale of promotional merchandise and revenue from broadcasting rights to obtain funds, and originally committed to investing 50% of excess revenue in global good causes related to monument preservation and reconstruction. However, at the end, they wriggled out claiming ‘no earning’ from the exercise.
This project had nothing to do with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) whose ‘World Heritage List’ is different, and Taj Mahal was included in it in 1983. The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum in Agra, India, that was built under Mughal Emperor ShahJahan in memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It has been cited as ‘the jewel of Muslim art in India and is one of the most admired masterpieces of the World’s Heritage’.
With immense public participation, the ‘new 7 wonders of the world’ have been chosen, and India’s Taj Mahal is one of them for people across the world to admire and enjoy.
