The Great Pyramid of Giza: Constructed between 2650 and 2500 B.C., it is the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World still standing. It was built as the tomb of Pharaoh Cheops, or Khufu. It’s estimated that it took a workforce of about 100,000 to build it without the use of pulleys or wheels. By the way, these were paid laborers, not slaves.
Chichen Itza: In the 6th century the Mayans in Yucatan built a complex of pyramids they named “The Mouth of the River Itza.” (Nicely for this list, it was also called the “7 Great Rulers.”) It was a capital of the Mayan empire, and is considered an archeological masterpiece of the pre-Columbian era. The best-known pyramid is the Temple of Kukulkan, also called El Castillo. Kukulkan is the Mayan name for the god Quetzalcoatl.
Louvre Pyramid: Built in 1989, this glass pyramid which looms at the front entrance to the Louvre in Paris, was an instant source of controversy. Some found the futuristic glass structure set amid the ancient Louvre a desecration. Others praised its mix of the classical style with the ultra modern. A myth sprang up that the number of glass panes was 666, a false factoid exploited by Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus: A web site dedicated to the Seven Ancient Wonders says, “It was not just a temple... It was the most beautiful structure on earth... built in honor of the Greek goddess of hunting, wild nature, and fertility.” Indeed, 15 centuries earlier, Seven-Wonder-list-maker Antipater of Sidon had written, “When I saw the sacred house of Artemis that towers to the clouds, the [other Wonders] were placed in the shade, for the Sun himself has never looked upon its equal outside Olympus.”
The Taj Mahal: Despite its lack of Newness, can anyone imagine another contender for Most Beautiful? One of the world’s most-visited tourist attractions, this beauty was commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a tribute to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, making it the most romantic valentine ever done in marble. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, described as the “jewel of Mughal architecture in India.”
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao: Break out the boxing gloves; people feel strongly both ways about this one. To some, it is misshaped and cold; to others—probably most others—it is a modern masterpiece of design. Built by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry in 1997, it is considered by its supporters as the most beautiful example of 21st (well almost) century architecture. Its radically shaped contours could not have existed in the pre-computer-design age; it instantly became one of the world’s best-known buildings.
Colossus of Rhodes: Built in 282 B.C. by Charles of Lindos for the residents of Rhodes, this bronze behemoth did not straddle the harbor of Rhodes as commonly thought—the distance is wrong—but on an eastern promontory near the harbor. It lasted just 56 years, and was toppled in an earthquake. Historian Pliny wrote of the toppled statue, "Few people can make their arms meet round the thumb." Efforts to reconstruct it failed, and it was sold off in pieces.
Rome’s Coliseum: One of the world’s iconic tourist attractions, it was the most colossal of the arenas Rome built for the amusement of its citizens, the delight of its lions, and the consternation of its Christians. Also known as the Flavian Amphitheater, it was begun by Emperor Vespasian and finished by Titus in 80 A.D. In its heyday, it accommodated 50,000 fans plus one emperor’s box for the popular thumbs-up-or-down ceremony.
Three Gorges Dam: They don’t come any more colossal than China’s massive hydroelectric dam spanning the Yangtze River. Visitors to the U.S.’s Hoover Dam may wish to know that the Three Gorges is more than five times as large, at 2,335 meters in length and 185 meters high—over 600 feet. It began doing its damming job in 2003, but won’t be fully operational until 2009. Over 1 million people are expected to be displaced by the rising waters.
The Zeus Statue at Olympia: Long gone, the monumental statue was the work of the Greek sculptor Phidias in 432 B.C. It stood 40 feet in height, and arguably one of the ancient world’s tallest statues—and that, with Greece’s chief god sitting down. “It seems that if Zeus were to stand up," the geographer Strabo noted early in the 1st century BC, "he would unroof the temple." Sculpted in ivory and gold, Zeus and his temple towered over the site of the Olympic Games. No one is absolutely sure how it was destroyed.
Machu Picchu: The onetime “Lost City of the Incas,” located at nearly 8,000 feet atop a Peruvian mountain, represents the pinnacle of Inca civilization, and surely the highest-situated important city in the world. It was built in 1450, but lasted as a living city only until the arrival of the Spaniards a century later. A UNESCO World Heritage site, it is now over-visited and there are concerns over its preservation.
Taipei 101: By some measures (but not all) this Taiwan structure is the world's tallest inhabited building at 1,671 feet, measured to its “architectural height.” A contender for the title of tallest freestanding structure is the CN Tower in Toronto at 1,815 feet, but it is not inhabited. (The world’s highest manmade structure of all is a TV tower in Fargo, North Dakota at 2,063 feet, but it is a metal frame held up by guy wires.) All of these records will fall, however, when Dubai’s projected 2,684-foot Burj Dubai tops out with 160 floors.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon: OK, this is where we’re going to get the emails. These lush gardens, supposedly built in 600 B.C. by King Nebuchadnezzar II as a token of appreciation to his wife, are most often depicted cascading down the stone walls of Babylon. The walls, incidentally, were considered part of the Seven Wonders descriptions. Vaults and arches were built into the walls, and the rock foundations were hollowed out. The Hanging Gardens, by the way, were in present-day Iraq.
Petra, Jordan: Carved into sides of the reddish mountains that run from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Dead Sea, this UNESCO World Heritage site is considered a masterpiece of bas relief monumental sculpture and architecture. Its origin is hazy, but the site is mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the rock dwellings are thought to have originated with the Semite tribe, the Nabataeans.
The Chunnel: Although there are far longer tunnels (the champion road tunnel is in Norway), this 31-mile underground highway fulfilled a dream of Napoleon’s by linking Britain and France. Digging beneath the English Channel was considered a more significant feat than tunneling through earth (i.e., the famed 40-mile Mont Blanc tunnel). \Whether the French and the British are happy being linked is another question.
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Turkey: Maussolos, king of a minor region of the Persian Empire, wasn’t noted for much. Then his sister Artemisia, who also happened to be his wife, got the idea to build an over-the-top tomb for her brother/husband. Construction was completed in 350 B.C., three years after the king’s death, and a year after Artemisia’s. The lavishly adorned tomb-castle housed statues of notables of the day, as well as various lions, horses and other animals.
Statue of Christ the Redeemer, Corcovado: A stretch, but this “memorial” to Jesus made the seven New Wonder cut less because of its architectural quality than because of its spiritual aura perched atop Mount Corcovado overlooking Rio de Janeiro. It was designed by a Brazilian, Heitor da Silva Costa, and sculpted by a Frenchman, Paul Landowski. Inaugurated in 1931, it is the open-armed religious symbol of Brazil.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial: One of the most striking memorials to war dead ever built, the Memorial Wall has the names of the 58,249 men and women killed in the Vietnam conflict carved into its black surface. Designed by Yale undergraduate Maya Lin at 21, it is one of the most-visited monuments in Washington, D.C., amid scenes of weeping relatives. One official website calls it “simple, thoughtful, and profound.”
Lighthouse of Alexandria: As one web site puts it, this is the only Ancient Wonder that had any practical value. Set on the island of Pharos, the lighthouse was begun by Ptolemy Soter, right hand man to Alexander the Great, in about 290 B.C. Its light could be seen from a distance of 35 miles. It was the last of the Wonders to disappear in 1480.
The Great Wall of China: The urban legend is that China’s wall is the only man-made object visible from space. That is partly fiction and partly fact. Fortified during the Ming Dynasty (1388-1644 B.C.), the 1,500 mile wall is certainly visible from a low orbit in space. But so are other man-made artifacts—cities, railroads and so on. Higher up, report the astronauts, nothing man-made is visible. Nevertheless, it is a major (and tourist-endangered) attraction in China, and at least in part lives up—way up—to its lore.
Dubai's Palm Islands: Technically a real-estate development created on landfill, the world’s three largest artificial islands are slated to be finished in 10 to 15 years. (The third will be the size of Paris.) Already the first is said to be visible from…well, let the brochure tell the story “Jumeirah Palm Island is… heralded as the 8th Wonder of the World as it can be seen from space along with another major landmark, the Great Wall of China.” We've revisited the China legend, but with the same caveat for overstatement, we hereby upgrade Dubai’s The Palms to Forbes Traveler’s 7th Modern Wonder.