The Acropolis in Athens and Mexico's Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza are among the leaders in a competition, ending in one month, to choose the New Seven Wonders of the World, the organizers said on Thursday.
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Some 50 million people have voted so far in the competition designed to produce a 21st century list of the world's greatest man-made heritage sites, but Tia Viering, a spokeswoman for the organization, said the result is wide open. The winning list will be announced in Lisbon on July 7.
Many countries are carrying out special events to encourage people to vote for their sites, Viering said. "There are some really creative, phenomenal things going on in the last four weeks that will influence the final result." These include an Indian singer dedicating a song to the Taj Mahal and Brazil's soccer team urging Brazilians to vote for Christ Redeemer, the statue that adorns Rio de Janeiro's skyline.
The most popular 10 sites so far include both the Taj Mahal and Christ Redeemer, along with the Colosseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, Peru's Machu Picchu, Petra in Jordan, and the statues of Easter Island.
Friday, June 15, 2007
I don't know if anyone is following the New 7 Wonders competition at the moment. As I specialize in delivering Egyptology-based news, and as the Egyptian government has thrown all the toys about involving the Giza pyramids in the competition, I simply cannot wait until the thing closes. But for those of you with less jaded palettes, here's the latest on the competition voting: