The final days of voting on the 7 wonders in the world. The Great Wall is among the most voted, together with the Coliseum and Machu Picchu. Over 50 million votes have already been cast in the “first real world wide consultation”.

(AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Great Wall Of China could be chosen as one of the 7 new wonders of the world.  Together with the Coliseum in Rome and Machu Picchu in Peru it is among the chief contenders in the vote, which ends July 6th.  

The massive poll to decide on the “the new seven wonders of the world” enters its final month with votes already cast by more than 50 million people world wide via text messages and e mail. Also in the top 10 are Greece's Acropolis, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island, Brazil's Statue of Christ the Redeemer, the Taj Mahal and Jordan's Petra.  The Great Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world, are assured of keeping their status in addition to the new seven after Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace they had to compete. The winners will be announced on July 7 in Lisbon, (Portugal).  

The ancient city of Petra in southwestern Jordan - popularised by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - famous for its water tunnels and stone structures carved in the rock - jumped from the middle of the pack to the top seven in January thanks to campaigning by the Jordanian royal family and thousands of Jordanians voting by text message over their mobile phones.

America's Statue of Liberty and Australia's Sydney Opera House are lagging in the campaign.   Also in the bottom group are Cambodia's Angkor, Spain's Alhambra, Turkey's Hagia Sophia, Japan's Kiyomizu Temple, Russia's Kremlin and St Basil's Cathedral, Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle, Britain's Stonehenge and Mali's Timbuktu.

The “competition”  begun in 1999, with almost 200 nominations coming in from around the world. The list of candidates was narrowed down to 21 by the start of last year. Since organisers started a tour to each site last September, the competition has been heating up. 

Tia Viering, campaign spokeswoman, comments “It's the first ever global vote”, on “something which interests everyone”.  At the moment, most of the voting is coming from Latin America and Asia, via internet, while Americans and Europeans have the lowest participation so far.  But the organisers are confident the campaign will draw more attention in the US and Europe in the final phase, with an increase in hits on the internet site, http://www.new7wonders.com

 

 

• CHINA
• PERU
• JORDAN
• ROME
• SEVEN
• WONDERS
• GREAT
• WALL
• US
• AUSTRALIA