Clockwise from right:Temple of Artemis,Statue of Zeus,Lighthouse at Alexandria.
To get to the origins of the original must-see list, we need to go back to Ancient Greece.
CalledthemataGreek for things to seethe list came about from guidebooks and sightseeing guides.
Clockwise from right:Temple of Artemis,Statue of Zeus,Lighthouse at Alexandria. (Illustrations:garangavia Shutterstock)
Yes, that’s right, people were traveling in Ancient Greece.
What are the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?
Discover the full list below.
Timeline and map of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (Photo: cmglee, Juandamec, Kirill Borisenko, Flappiefh, Nicolas M. PerraultCC BY-SA 4.0, viaWikimedia Commons.)
The oldest of the seven wonders, Egyptologists believe it took just 10 to 20 years to build.
Construction on the tomb ended around 2560 BCE with 2.3 million stone blocks used in its construction.
Made of limestone, mortar, and granite, the pyramid originally measured 481 feet tall.
Photo:Veronika Kovalenkovia Shutterstock
According to descriptions, the site included an ascending series of tiered gardens that were overflowing with plant life.
In its final form, the temple was 450 feet long and contained over 125 columns.
Almost completely destroyed in 262 CE by the Goths, it’s unclear if it was ever fully rebuilt.
Photo:garangavia Shutterstock
Now, it lays in ruins in modern-day Bodrum, Turkey.
Records indicate that the inside of the mausoleum was as elaborate as its temple-like exterior.
It was made in celebration of the island’s successful defense against a year-long siege from the Macedonian king.
Olympian Zeus in the sculptured antique art of Quatremère de Quincy. 1815. (Photo: [Public domain or Public domain],via Wikimedia Commons)
Hand-colored engraving of the Colossus of Rhodes by Marten van Heemskerck, c. 1500s.
(Photo: Public Domain, viaWikimedia Commons.)
The position of the statue is still speculated among historians.
Reconstruction of the Temple of Artemis in Istanbul Turkey (Photo:Zee Primeatcs.wikipedia[GFDL,CC-BY-SA-3.0orCC BY-SA 2.5],from Wikimedia Commons)
After less than 6o years, the statue was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BCE and never rebuilt.
Eventually, between 1303 and 1480 CE, the lighthouse wasdestroyed by earthquakesand never rebuilt.
Located in the Himalayas, the iconic peak is a thrill seeker’s dream.
Photo:garangavia Shutterstock
Interestingly, the summit point of Mount Everest is also the international border between Tibet and Nepal.
Comprising thousands of individual reefs spread across 1,400 miles, the Great Barrier Reef can be viewed from space.
The sheer magnitude of marine life is astonishing, with the reef hosting many endangered and rare species.
Ruins of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. (Photo: FollowingHadrianCC BY-SA 4.0, viaWikimedia Commons.)
It was named by Scottish explorer David Livingstone during his African voyage in 1855 after Queen Victoria of England.
This cinder cone volcano is located 200 miles west of Mexico City, in the Mexican state of Michoacan.
What makes Paricutin especially notable is that scientists were able to observe its entire lifecyclea first.
Marine life includes a population of Botos, a rare dolphin considered a primitive dolphin.
What are the New 7 Wonders of the World?
In 2000, a campaign was started to seek out the New 7 Wonders of the World.
Hand-colored engraving of the Colossus of Rhodes by Marten van Heemskerck, c. 1500s. (Photo: Public Domain, viaWikimedia Commons.)
A Swiss organization called theNew7Wonders Foundationled the charge, asking the public to vote for their favorite sites.
With the Great Pyramid being voted in as an honorary wonder, seven new sites were revealed in 2007.
Tens of millions of people voted for a range of sites that touch all corners of the globe.
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