7 Wonders Of The World

[adma]

Well, to a degree we're talking about *iconic* quality above all else. Thus, I can see how Eiffel and S of L qualify. And somehow, by comparison, the CN Tower just seems a little too, I dunno, "That 70s" for comfort.

Okay, so Sydney Opera's also 70s (well, actually 50s, with a 70s finish date). But somehow, maybe in part because of its protracted gestation, it meets that timeless-icon mark in a way the CN Tower doesn't--though in a way that also illustrates the saccharine/hackneyed stigma such icon-making has had to bear in recent decades. But what's the alternative? Bilbao Guggenheim seems too pretentious a recent-decades choice by comparison. I guess it's the same dilemma that leads popular symphony orchestras to choose, out of necessity, an "all roads lead to Andrew Lloyd Webber" approach...

 

[wyliepoon]

Here's my seven picks from the list...

03 Angkor, Cambodia
09 Great Wall, China
10 Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey
13 Machu Picchu, Peru
16 Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
19 Sydney Opera House, Australia
20 Taj Mahal, Agra, India

I picked most of them because they were technologically/architecturally innovative, took a lot of effort to complete and simply breathtaking (in my opinion).

I have to question why Christ Redeemer is on the list. There's thousands of churches around the world that are more deserving of a "wonder" title than that one statue. Maybe the Mount Royal cross should also go on that list.

I planned to vote for my seven wonders... until I found out I had to pay to vote.

 

[tayser2]

SOH's probably only in there because someone from up there paid them to put it in - out of spite because it wasn't the first Australian building to be world heritage listed, the Royal Exhibition Building was.

:lol

adma's description is heading in the right direction, but I wouldn't really put SOH in my top 7 either - it's pretty much the epitome of Sydney, all look and not much else. It's very well known, locally, that the SOH is not as spectacular on the inside as it is on the outside, and the New South government is going through the same old crap it did when it was first built, no-one can agree on funding for upgrades, and in the SOH's case actually making the facilities 'world class' (as they are not now). As the saying goes, if you combined the exterior of the SOH with the interior of the VAC (Victorian Arts Centre), you'd have the world's greatest opera house, until such time, it's not worthy on looks alone IMO.

I'm really ripping in to Sydney of late, aren't I? :lol I do enjoy myself all the time when I go up there, but sugarcoating gets a bit too much especially when that's all it is - sugarcoating - that appears in these silly polls.

 

[shumoon]

Here are my choices from the list:

1 Great Wall, China
2 Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
3 Angkor, Cambodia
4 Neuschwanstein Castle, Fussen, Germany
5 Taj Mahal, Agra, India
6 Alhambra, Granada, Spain
7 Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey

The first two are engineering marvels. Angkor is a city devoted to religion. Neuschwanstein is THE ultimate fairy castle come to life. 5 & 6 are incredible works of art. Just as the Eiffel Tower is a precursor to bigger/better observation towers, Hagia Sophia is the precursor to the spectacular domed houses of worship throughout Turkey. Hagia Sofia's neighbour across the street, the Blue Mosque, is far more airy and has more light than the gloomy and massive Hagia Sophia.

Other sites not on the list that deserve mention:

Borabadur, Indonesia
Mostar Bridge, Croatia
Forbidden City, Beijing, China
souk, Fez, Morocco

 

[boiler2000]

^ Mostar is in Bosnia. Would the bridge still qualify given that it was completely destroyed in the early 90s and then reconstructed a few years later?

 

[wyliepoon]

Would the bridge still qualify given that it was completely destroyed in the early 90s and then reconstructed a few years later?

Some of the structures in the list have gone through similar cycles of destruction and then reconstruction. The Great Wall of China, built to keep Mongol invaders out of China, fell into disrepair whenever it wasn't needed. The newest parts of the Great Wall were built in the Ming Dynasty (approx. 13-17th century AD), but they were abandoned for a time until the modern Chinese realized that the Great Wall could make a great tourist attraction. Even today, much of the Great Wall outside the rebuilt parts in tourist areas around Beijing has either been destroyed or simply been buried and forgotten.

 

[Mislav]

Here are my picks (in no particular order):

01 Acropolis, Athens, Greece
06 Colosseum, Rome, Italy
09 Great Wall, China
12 Kremlin, Moscow, Russia
16 Pyramids of Giza, Egypt
18 Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom
20 Taj Mahal, Agra, India

 

[Bogtrotter]

Of architecture still standing:

Great Wall (China) - largest structure ever made.
Taj Mahal (Agra, India) - most ornate religeous building
Pyramids Giza (Egypt) - 30 times the mass of the Empire state building
Acropolis (Athens)
Chichen Itza (Yucatán, Mexico)
CN Tower (Toronto) - tallest architectural construct created by man.
Machu Picchu (Peru)

 

[adma]

Not a "wonder of the world" per se, but the building I'd most like to make sweet beautiful love in. The "Patria" resort in Krynica, Poland (Bohdan Pniewski, 1933)