7 Wonders Of the World
A Summary of the 7 wonders of the World
The Colosseum
Map of the Colosseum from the top
The Colosseum was built in Rome under the Flavian emperors . It was built sometime between 70 and 72 CE during the reign of Vespasian . It is located east of the Palatine Hill , on the grounds of what was Nero ’s Golden House . The artificial lake that used to be there was drained, and the Colosseum was built there instead. Vespasian chose to replace the emperor’s private lake with a public amphitheatre that could host tens of thousands of Romans.
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The amphitheatre seated around 50,000 spectators. The Colosseum was the scene of combat between gladiators , contests between men and animals, and of many larger combats, including mock naval engagements.
Petra
Map of Petra
The ruin of the ancient city of Petra are in southwest Jordan . The city was built on a terrace. The valley is enclosed by colorful sandstone cliffs. The modern town of Wadi Mūsā, next to the ancient city, serves tourists who come to visit.
The Greek name Petra (“Rock”) probably replaced the biblical name Sela. Remains from the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods have been discovered at Petra, and Edomites are known to have occupied the area about 1200 BCE. Centuries later the Nabataeans , an Arab tribe, occupied it and made it the capital of their kingdom. In 312 BCE the region was attacked by Seleucid forces, who failed to take the city. Under Nabataean rule, Petra prospered as a centre of the spice trade that involved China, Egypt , Greece, and India.
When the Nabataeans were defeated by the Romans in 106 CE, Petra became part of the Roman province of Arabia but continued to thrive until changing trade routes caused its gradual commercial decline. The Islamic invasion occurred in the 7th century, and a Crusader outpost is evidence of activity there in the 12th century. After the Crusades the city was unknown to the Western world until it was rediscovered by the Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812.
Excavations from 1958 on behalf of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and, later, the American Center of Oriental Research added greatly to knowledge of Petra. The ruins are usually approached from the east by a narrow gorge known as the Siq (Wadi Al-Sīq). Among the first sites viewed from the Siq is the Khaznah (“Treasury”), which is actually a large tomb . Al-Dayr (“the Monastery”) is one of Petra’s best-known rock-cut monuments; it is an unfinished tomb facade that during Byzantine times was used as a church. Many of the tombs of Petra have elaborate facades and are now used as dwellings. The High Place of Sacrifice, a cultic altar dating from biblical times, is a well-preserved site. To support the ancient city’s large population, its inhabitants maintained an extensive hydrological system, including dams, cisterns, rock-carved water channels, and ceramic pipes. Excavations begun in 1993 revealed several more temples and monuments that provide insight into the political, social, and religious traditions of the ancient city. The ruins are vulnerable to floods and other natural phenomena, and increased tourist traffic has also damaged the monuments. In 1985 Petra was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site . See also Iranian art and architecture: Petra and Palmyra .
Chichén Itzá
Chichén Itzá, ruined ancient Maya city occupying an area of 4 square miles (10 square km) in south-central Yucatán state, Mexico . It is thought to have been a religious, military, political, and commercial centre that at its peak would have been home to 35,000 people. The site first saw settlers in 550, probably drawn there because of the easy access to water in the region via caves and sinkholes in limestone formations, known as cenotes .
Chichén Itzá is located some 90 miles (150 km) east-northeast of Uxmal and 75 miles (120 km) east-southeast of the modern city of Mérida . The only source of water in the arid region around the site is from the cenotes. Two big cenotes on the site made it a suitable place for the city and gave it its name, from chi (“mouths”), chen (“wells”), and Itzá , the name of the Maya tribe that settled there. Chichén Itzá was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988.
The ball court (for playing the game tlachtli [Mayan: pok-ta-pok])
Christ the Redeemer
Christ the Redeemer
Christ the Redeemer, colossal statue of Jesus Christ at the summit of Mount Corcovado , Rio de Janeiro , southeastern Brazil . Celebrated in traditional and popular songs, Corcovado towers over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s principal port city. The statue of Christ the Redeemer was completed in 1931 and stands 98 feet (30 metres) tall, its horizontally outstretched arms spanning 92 feet (28 metres). The statue has become emblematic of both the city of Rio de Janeiro and the whole nation of Brazil.
The statue, made of reinforced concrete clad in a mosaic of thousands of triangular soapstone tiles, sits on a square stone pedestal base about 26 feet (8 metres) high, which itself is situated on a deck atop the mountain’s summit . The statue is the largest Art Deco -style sculpture in the world.
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu, site of ancient Inca ruins located about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Cuzco , Peru , in the Cordillera de Vilcabamba of the Andes Mountains . It is perched above the Urubamba River valley in a narrow saddle between two sharp peaks—Machu Picchu (“Old Peak”) and Huayna Picchu (“New Peak”)—at an elevation of 7,710 feet (2,350 metres). One of the few major pre-Columbian ruins found nearly intact , Machu Picchu was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.
The dwellings at Machu Picchu were probably built and occupied from the mid-15th to the early or mid-16th century. Machu Picchu’s construction style and other evidence suggest that it was a palace complex of the ruler Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (reigned c. 1438–71). Several dozen skeletons were excavated there in 1912, and, because most of those were initially identified as female, Bingham suggested that Machu Picchu was a sanctuary for the Virgins of the Sun (the Chosen Women ), an elite Inca group. Technology at the turn of the 21st-century, however, identified a significant proportion of males and a great diversity in physical types. Both skeletal and material remains now suggest to scholars that Machu Picchu served as a royal retreat. The reason for the site’s abandonment is also unknown, but lack of water may have been a factor.
Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal, mausoleum complex in Agra , western Uttar Pradesh state, northern India . The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahān (reigned 1628–58) to immortalize his wife Mumtaz Mahal (“Chosen One of the Palace”), who died in childbirth in 1631, having been the emperor’s inseparable companion since their marriage in 1612. India’s most famous and widely recognized building, it is situated in the eastern part of the city on the southern (right) bank of the Yamuna (Jumna) River . Agra Fort (Red Fort), also on the right bank of the Yamuna, is about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the Taj Mahal.
In its harmonious proportions and its fluid incorporation of decorative elements, the Taj Mahal is distinguished as the finest example of Mughal architecture , a blend of Indian, Persian , and Islamic styles. Other attractions include twin mosque buildings (placed symmetrically on either side of the mausoleum), lovely gardens, and a museum. One of the most beautiful structural compositions in the world, the Taj Mahal is also one of the world’s most iconic monuments, visited by millions of tourists each year. The complex was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.
Great Wall of China
Great Wall of China, extensive bulwark erected in ancient China , one of the largest building-construction projects ever undertaken. The Great Wall actually consists of numerous walls—many of them parallel to each other—built over some two millennia across northern China and southern Mongolia . The most extensive and best-preserved version of the wall dates from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and runs for some 5,500 miles (8,850 km) east to west from Mount Hu near Dandong , southeastern Liaoning province, to Jiayu Pass west of Jiuquan , northwestern Gansu province. This wall often traces the crestlines of hills and mountains as it snakes across the Chinese countryside, and about one-fourth of its length consists solely of natural barriers such as rivers and mountain ridges. Nearly all of the rest (about 70 percent of the total length) is actual constructed wall, with the small remaining stretches constituting ditches or moats. Although lengthy sections of the wall are now in ruins or have disappeared completely, it is still one of the more remarkable structures on Earth . The Great Wall was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.
Large parts of the fortification system date from the 7th through the 4th century BCE. In the 3rd century BCE Shihuangdi (Qin Shihuang), the first emperor of a united China (under the Qin dynasty), connected a number of existing defensive walls into a single system. Traditionally, the eastern terminus of the wall was considered to be Shanhai Pass ( Shanhaiguan ) in eastern Hebei province along the coast of the Bo Hai (Gulf of Chihli), and the wall’s length—without its branches and other secondary sections—was thought to extend for some 4,160 miles (6,700 km). However, government-sponsored investigations that began in the 1990s revealed sections of wall in Liaoning, and aerial and satellite surveillance eventually proved that this wall stretched continuously through much of the province. The greater total length of the Ming wall was announced in 2009.