I have only seen the colosseum. Looks like I have to pick up the pace

ok, well, I think three of those are good picks... the others... meh

Why is that statue on there? Where is Angkor Wat? Or Stonehenge? Or Easter Island?
Or the fabled temple of Backpackistan?

From news coverage

"The Colosseum, the Great Wall, Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal and Petra had been among the leading candidates since January, while the Statue of Christ Redeemer received a surge in votes more recently.

The Statue of Liberty and Australia's Sydney Opera House were near the bottom of the list from the start.

Also among the losing candidates were 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 campaign to name new wonders was launched in 1999 by the Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber. Almost 200 nominations came in, and the list was narrowed to the 21 most-voted by the start of 2006. Organizers admit there was no foolproof way to prevent people from voting more than once for their favorite."

Consider this to be the *Grammy's* of world monuments and disregard from there.

I think it's okay.

Sure, people vote more than once, but has everyone who voted been to all of them? Are they deciding objectively anyway? Is it better if an exclusive UN committee decides?

I think it's interesting to have people vote. I guess the 7 has been a traditional number to pick...but...why 7....there are obviously many more interesting things to see. I guess I feel like I will make my own choice as to what I think is most and go there, and take this as an interesting indication of what a lot of people think.

The bridge from Ivo Andric's Bridge on the Drina in Bosnia was just added to UNESCO's list, and I think that is good for getting funds for preservation, upkeep, etc. I don't know if it means more tourists will head off to Visegrad...maybe.

I guess it would be interesting to consider what ramifications this poll has. Will people give these places new or more attention? Will their preservation get more funding (does it need it?)?

As much as I love Rio, there's no way Cristo Redentor belongs on the list. It's an ugly, crude, poorly-executed concrete statute on a hill. No artistic genius to it, nothing other than brute force to get it there; the entire beauty of the thing derives from its natural location.

Hmmm. Let me see now:

Country with huge population...

..all with their own computers, and..

..most of whom are Catholic.

Nah, no connection at all.

I agree that unless you've seen all of them, it's hard to vote objectively. I've been to four of those places and I'll be at my fifth in 3 weeks ( !)and I think they deserve their spot on the list. As for the other two, Chichen and the Christ, I can't believe that Angkor woudn't beat the crap out of them. But not many people have been to Cambodia. It's a poor country and I doubt that many have computers. Among my friends and family, none had even heard of the place before they saw my pictures. And so who would vote for it?

And I haven't been to Chichen and the Christ. Could that be why they don't seem that impressive to me?

I think we can't take those results too seriously...

Brazil isn't really known as a particularly "wired" country, but they do probably have Cambodia beat. And if that sort of thing was a huge factor then the Statue of Liberty would have finished near the top instead of near the bottom.

But, particularly with the methodology they used, this list compares more to one of those "50 Best Movies of All Time" or "50 Best Albums of All Time" lists than to a historically important collection.

I like the whole UNESCO World Heritage Site thing and I take those designations seriously. But this list doesn't mean much to me. I've been to 4 of these 7 and I don't think they are the 4 most impressive places I've been.

Yeah, without a requirement that a voter has actually been to all the candidates, it's kind of a worthless poll. It would make as much sense as having the public vote on their favorite equation in quantum physics.

quote:

And if that sort of thing was a huge factor then the Statue of Liberty would have finished near the top instead of near the bottom.

Actually, according to this CNN article, Americans and Europeans had the lowest percentage of people who participated in the voting. Latin Americans and Asians had the highest.

Sorry, but Cristo Redentor is no Colossus of Rhodes. And where was Raquel Welch?

quote:

Originally posted by static:
Hmmm. Let me see now:

Country with huge population...

..all with their own computers, and..

..most of whom are Catholic.

Nah, no connection at all.

My thoughts exactly!

Hi

Yes, I think they got most of them right but I don't think the Christ statue in Rio should have been on the list. There are many other things that are more impressive if you ask me :-)