Now that the fuss has died down over the new '7 wonders', I wanted to take a quick look at some of the reaction. The launch was a glamorous and random affair by all accounts - singer Jennifer Lopez, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and actor Sir Ben Kingsley were at the ceremony at the Benfica stadium in Portugal. As the list was broadcast to 1.6billion people in more than 170 countries, actress Hilary Swank enthused: 'Never before in history have so many people participated in a global decision.' Grand words indeed, which might have slightly, just slightly, overplayed the significance of the list.
All wonders are 'new', except one, the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, the only one of the original seven wonders of the ancient world still standing, and thus named an 'honorary candidate'.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, or UNESCO, keeps updating its own list of World Heritage Sites, which now totals 851 places. Christian Manhart, UNESCO’s press officer, criticised the ballot, saying it sent out a “negative message to countries whose sites have not been retained.”
“All of these wonders obviously deserve a place on the list, but what disturbs us is that the list is limited to just seven,” he said, pointing out that “seven were adequate in Antiquity because the Antique world was much smaller than today,” only comprising the area surrounding the Mediterranean.
Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, who heads the Vatican’s pontifical commission for culture and archeology, said that the exclusion of Christian works of art such as Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel was “surprising, inexplicable, even suspicious”.
Online and telephone call-in voting on the finalists began a little over a year ago. Nothing prevented repeat voting by fans, citizens, governments, tourism agencies, you name it. The LA Times called it 'a decidedly unscientific poll', and 'essentially a huge publicity stunt'
Some argued that the polling arrangements were so flawed they make Eurovision Song Contest judges look objective. Since there was no limit to the number of times one could express a preference. Predictably, tourism promotion bodies and even governments soon began lobbying campaigns.
A writer from the Glasgow Herald made me laugh: "I feel some empathy for the Taj Mahal, in remembrance of many a fine curry when it was in Park Road, Glasgow. Petra, the ancient Middle Eastern city, may strike a chord with Blue Peter viewers of yesteryear. Timbuktu will no doubt get the votes of many Celtic fans. Unaccountably, there is no room on the short leet for the Falkirk Wheel nor even for the Scottish parliament building. The latter really is a wonder. I have heard many folk say: "I wonder, how they managed to spend £415 million on that place."
There were even spoof lists to compete with the new list. Mark Lowton from 'The Spoof' claimed his moustache had made the prestigious list. "Jalapenos, onions, green chilis and garlic all stick in my mustache, sometimes for months at a time," he said.
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