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.

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.


Sources

The ball court (for playing the game  tlachtli  [Mayan: pok-ta-pok])