Based on lists compiled by the ancient Greeks, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World included monuments renowned for their size or architectural splendor. Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one still in existence. Others included the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse (Pharos) of Alexandria. There is doubt among scholars as to whether some of these structures really existed.
In 1999, a group called New7Wonders invited the world community to vote on what they considered to be the Wonders of the World. With many millions of votes tabulated, the finalists for the new wonders were narrowed down to these seven: the Christ Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; The Colosseum in Rome, Italy; the Taj Mahal in Agra, India; the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu of Peru; the hidden city of Petra in Jordan; and Chichen Itza in Mexico.
Some of the finalists in the New 7 Wonders list described above are the Alhambra in Spain, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Kiyomizu Temple in Japan, Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, the Easter Island Statues, Stonehenge in England, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Acropolis in Greece, the Eiffel Tower in France, the Haggai Sophia in Turkey, the Kremlin and Red Square in Russia, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and the Statue of Liberty in the United States.
Many cultural monuments around the world are in danger from age, encroaching settlements or neglect. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has created a World Heritage Sites program to list, study and preserve many of them.
