JigsawThe Seven Wonders of the World, Old and New
What are the seven wonders of the world? The full list of the ancient and the new wonders, which one still stands, where they are and the story behind each one.
For more than two thousand years, people have made lists of the greatest wonders built by human hands. The most famous of these lists come in sevens: the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, compiled by Greek writers, and the New Seven Wonders of the World, chosen in a worldwide vote in 2007. You can explore all of the new wonders, the last survivor of the ancient ones and the places where the others stood in our puzzles.
In short: the New Seven Wonders of the World are the Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Colosseum in Italy and the Taj Mahal in India. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World were the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria; only the Great Pyramid still stands.
The ancient wonders
The original list was written by travellers and writers of the ancient Greek world, who described the most impressive sights around the eastern Mediterranean. The best-known version includes seven monuments:
- the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt;
- the Hanging Gardens of Babylon;
- the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus;
- the Statue of Zeus at Olympia;
- the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus;
- the Colossus of Rhodes;
- the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Earthquakes, fires and time destroyed all of them except one. The Great Pyramid, built about 4,500 years ago as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu, is the oldest wonder on the list and the only one still standing. For almost 4,000 years it was the tallest building on Earth.
What remains of the ancient wonders today
The other six are gone, but you can still visit the places where they stood, and several of them left traces you can see.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Babylon lies on the Euphrates, south of Baghdad in Iraq. No trace of the gardens has been found, but the ruins of the city still hold the Ishtar Gate’s foundations and the basalt Lion of Babylon.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The temple stood outside Ephesus, on the coast of today’s Turkey; a single re-erected column marks its site near Selçuk. The Roman city next to it is one of the best preserved in the Mediterranean, with the Library of Celsus and the Temple of Hadrian.
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia. Phidias’s great statue of ivory and gold sat in the Temple of Zeus, where the ancient Olympic Games were held. One column of the temple was set up again in 2004, and the Olympic flame is still lit at Olympia today.
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Only foundations of the tomb remain in Bodrum, Turkey, but many of its stones were used by the Knights of Saint John to build Bodrum Castle by the harbour.
The Colossus of Rhodes. The bronze statue of Helios stood for only 54 years. Today a bronze stag and doe on two columns guard the entrance to Mandraki Harbour, near the medieval Fortress of Saint Nicholas.
The Lighthouse of Alexandria. The lighthouse on the island of Pharos gave its name to the word for lighthouse in many languages. On its site in Egypt stands the Citadel of Qaitbay, built in the 1470s partly with its stones.
The new wonders
In 2007, a campaign organised by the New7Wonders Foundation invited people around the world to vote for a new list. Millions of votes were cast online and by telephone, and the results were announced in Lisbon on 7 July 2007. The Great Pyramid was given an honorary place, and these seven were chosen.
The Great Wall of China
Built and rebuilt over many centuries by different Chinese dynasties, the Great Wall winds across mountains, deserts and grasslands in northern China. The best-preserved sections, with their watchtowers and battlements, date mostly from the Ming dynasty.
Petra, Jordan
More than 2,000 years ago, the Nabataeans carved tombs and temples into the rose-coloured cliffs of southern Jordan. The most famous façade, the Treasury, appears suddenly at the end of a narrow canyon called the Siq.
Christ the Redeemer, Brazil
Completed in 1931, the statue of Christ with open arms stands about 30 metres tall on top of Corcovado mountain, looking out over Rio de Janeiro. It is made of reinforced concrete covered in thousands of small triangular tiles of soapstone.
Machu Picchu, Peru
Built by the Incas in the fifteenth century on a ridge high above the Urubamba River, Machu Picchu was hidden from the outside world for centuries. Its stone walls fit together so precisely that a knife blade cannot slip between some of the blocks.
Chichen Itza, Mexico
This great Maya city in the Yucatán is crowned by the pyramid of El Castillo. At the spring and autumn equinoxes, the late afternoon sun creates a pattern of light and shadow on its stairs that looks like a serpent crawling down the pyramid.
The Colosseum, Italy
Opened in AD 80, the Colosseum in Rome could hold around 50,000 spectators, who came to watch gladiator fights and public shows. Even after centuries of earthquakes and stone robbing, it remains the largest amphitheatre ever built.
The Taj Mahal, India
The emperor Shah Jahan built this white marble tomb in Agra in the seventeenth century for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Its dome, gardens and reflecting pools make it one of the most photographed buildings in the world, and its marble seems to change colour from pink at dawn to gold at sunset.
Questions people often ask
How many wonders of the world are there?
Each of the two famous lists has seven wonders, so there are fourteen in all: seven ancient and seven new. The Great Pyramid of Giza belongs to the ancient list and was also given an honorary place beside the new one. Other lists exist too, such as the New Seven Wonders of Nature chosen in 2011, but when people speak of the wonders of the world they usually mean one of these two.
Which of the ancient wonders still exists?
Only the Great Pyramid of Giza, the oldest of them all. The others were destroyed by earthquakes, fire or war. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon may never have existed in the form the old writers described, because no clear trace of them has ever been found.
What is the difference between the old and the new wonders?
The ancient list was put together by Greek writers more than 2,000 years ago and covers only the lands they knew, around the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. The new list was chosen by a public vote in 2007 and covers the whole world, from China and India to Mexico, Peru and Brazil. All seven new wonders can still be visited today.
Where are the seven wonders of the world?
The new wonders are spread over four continents: three in Asia (China, Jordan and India), two in South America (Brazil and Peru), one in North America (Mexico) and one in Europe (Italy). The ancient wonders all stood in a much smaller area, in what are now Egypt, Iraq, Turkey and Greece.
Which wonder is the oldest, and which is the newest?
The Great Pyramid, finished around 2560 BC, is the oldest of all. Among the new wonders, the first walls that later became part of the Great Wall of China were built more than 2,500 years ago, while Christ the Redeemer, completed in 1931, is the youngest.
Travel the wonders by puzzle
Visiting all seven new wonders would mean travelling across four continents. With puzzles, you can do it in an afternoon. On Jigsaw Earth you can also follow the Wonders of the World journey, which takes you from one wonder to the next and stamps each country in your travel passport as you finish it.
