Six out of seven Ancient Wonders did not survive to this present day. Human imagination urged poets, writers, and historians to seek "replacements" for the fallen monuments. Some proposed a new list for the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Others argued that Ancient civilizations which the Greeks did not know of, erected monuments that should have been included in the original list. Wonders such as the Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal in Agra, and the Temple of Angkor in Cambodia are a few examples.
Like the ancient list, the new ones include fascinating monuments and structures that changed the existing landscape. However, no single list won unanimous approval among historians, artists, and architects.
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Colosseum The Colosseum is the most famous monument of Ancient Rome. Its original name is Flavian Amphitheatre. It was started by the Emperor Vespasian between 70 and 76 AD, and completed by his son Titus in 80 AD. The Colosseum was dedicated the year after Vespasian's death by Titus. They celebrated the opening by holding 100 days worth of games there. It was built on the site where Nero had had a huge villa for himself. Vespasian wanted to build something for the people rather than for himself. It got its popular name, the Colosseum, because it was built near where Nero had erected a huge statue, or colossus of himself. It showed him as the god of the sun. It was 100 feet high, and it was the largest gilded bronze statue in antiquity. It was later moved away. It took 24 elephants to move it! All over the empire, Romans enjoyed going to the theater to see concerts and plays, and to the stadium to watch chariot races and the amphitheater to watch bloody sports. Going to the amphitheater (Colosseum) was probably the most popular. Gladiatorial combats, fights with beasts and other fights were held in the Colosseum. The Colosseum was big enough to hold the whole population of a town--as many as 50,000 people would sometimes spend the whole day there watching sports. The games were really bloody and for four centuries, men died as an entertainment for the crowd. Gladiators went to training schools; most of them were slaves and criminals. At first there were fights to the death between wild animals: bear against buffalo, buffalo against elephant, and elephant against rhinoceros. Sometimes there would even be fights between men and tame beasts. These fights were called venationes. The Amphitheater is built of travertine outside, and of tufa and brick in the interior. It had Greek columns decorating the outside, but these did not support the architecture. The Colosseum had a circumference of 527m and it was 50m high. There were 80 entrances, all numbered except for the four main entrances which were wider than the others and were reserved for the Emperor. It was designed so that the crowd could get out in five minutes. The interior was divided into three parts: the arena, the podium, and the cavea. Now more than two-thirds of the original building has been removed and the rows of the seats in the cavea are missing. It is very similar to other amphitheaters except this one is much bigger. |
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| Petra Petra (lit. Rock) was the capital city of the Nabataeans, a tribe of pre-Roman Arabs who dominated the region around the Sixth century BC. Located at the crossroads of ancient trade routes, the city survived on toll and taxes collected from traders. Despite several attempts to conquer their capital, the Nabataeans remained practically independent until the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra and the reunification of the Roman Empire by Octavian in 31 BC. In 106, the Romans under Trajan finally captured Petra to mark the beginning of the decline of the city. The city remained unknown to the Western World for hundreds of years until a Swiss explorer, J.L. Burckhardt, heard about its existence from the local Bedouins in 1812. The Nabataeans carved their Capital in the canyons and hills of sandstone of Wadi Araba in Jordan. The entrance to the city is through The Alley (Al-Siq), a winding trail at the bottom of the canyon. Most famous is The Treasury (Al Khazneh), which fascinating façade was featured in many movies. Carved in the pink sandstone, the structure is 40 m high and about 30x30 m wide. Its architecture has been certainly strongly influenced by the Romans, which suggests it was built around the First century AD. The city includes other fascinating monuments and structures, such as Urn Tomb and the Royal Tombs, the Colonnade Street, the Temples of Dushara and Al-Uzza, and the High Place of Sacrifice. |
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| Shwedagon
Pagoda The magnificent golden Shwedagon is the first sacred monument, which the visitor to Myanmar can see from air or by sea, one of the wonders of the world. To Buddhists the Golden Shwedagon most sacred place of worship because it enshrined the sacred relics of the three earlier Buddhas and Eight Hair Relics of Gautama Buddhas the Supreme Self-Enlightened. One who attained Buddha hood 2540 years ago. To non-Buddhists, it is marvelous work of architecture conical in structure, a massive edifice towering 99.4 meters (326 feet) with the perimeter measuring 432.8 meters (1420 ft), glittering in gold and studded on the pinnacle with priceless gems. The golden umbrella (Hti) was recently replaced by a new one on 4 April 1999, and enriched with gold bells, and jewellery spontaneously donated on the spot by the devotees. The Shwedagon is located in Yangon the capital metropolis of Myanmar. |
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| Stonehenge Stonehenge is surely Britain's greatest national icon, symbolizing mystery, power and endurance. Its original purpose is unclear to us, but some have speculated that it was a temple made for the worship of ancient earth deities. It has been called an astronomical observatory for marking significant events on the prehistoric calendar. Others claim that it was a sacred site for the burial of high-ranking citizens from the societies of long ago. While we can't say with any degree of certainty what it was for, we can say that it wasn't constructed for any casual purpose. Only something very important to the ancients would have been worth the effort and investment that it took to construct Stonehenge. |
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| Victoria
Falls There are few appropriate superlatives that have not already been applied to this magnificent natural wonder of the world; in many ways it defies description. So vast are the Falls and their setting that it is difficult to grasp their true grandeur and for this reason, they are perhaps best seen from the air. The Victoria Falls offer an inescapable closeness to the natural elements. The towering column of spray when the river is high, the thunder of the falling water, the terrifying abyss that separates Zimbabwe from Zambia, the forest - lined, placid, tranquil lagoons upstream in which hippo and deadly crocodiles lurk. David Livingstone reported the existence of the Falls to the outside world in 1860. The result was immediate and from that point, the number of foreign visitors rose steadily. People walked, rode on horseback or travelled by ox - wagon from the Transvaal along what was then called the Hunters Road (now the border between Botswana and Zimbabwe) and on reaching George Westbeech's store at Pandamatenga left their animals there, safe from the lethal bite of the tsetse fly, and walked the remaining 80 kilometres, due north to the Falls. With the conflict in South Africa finally resolved and the region politically more stable, tourism is developing rapidly. New activities are constantly emerging and the industry is becoming more and more sophisticated. Rafting the wild rapids below the Falls was the first innovation more than ten years ago. Now the list of organised, commercial activities has expanded dramatically. Visitors can kayak, canoe, fish, go on guided walking safaris, ride on horseback, lunch on Livingstone's Island and in addition to the well-known "Flight of Angels", for the more adventurous there is microlighting with stunning views of the Falls. |
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