are Among the 7 Wonders of the World
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(PISA, Italia, 3 October 2000) La Repubblica Giornale
by Riccardo Luna
ROME- For the Olimpiad of masterpieces, Italy is in the medal zone with two postcard stars. The Colosseum of Rome and the Tower of Pisa are ahead together with the enigmatic statues of the island of Easter, the Mexican pyramid of Chitchen Itza, the Indian Taj Mahal, the Turkish Hagia Sophia and the Great Wall of China. These are, for now, the New seven wonders of the world. They were voted so by almost a million of people. Through the Internet, naturally (on the site www.new7wonders.com). The referendum should have ended September 30 with the proclamation of the winners but its promoter and creator, the Swiss Bernard Weber, 47 years old, an eclectic character with a past of aviator, explorer and director (an assistant to Fellini), has decided on an extension to 31 December: "To insure participation from the whole world."
Anyone may twist their nose at the procedure, but it is not like the ancient method was much more scientific when they compiled the original famous list of Seven Wonders. It was Erodoto, the father of the History, who was the first to speak about the matter. In the third century before Christ, in Alexandria Egypt, Callimaco of Cirene wrote a similar work - "Harvest of wonders through all the countries of the world"- that however was never completed. After him the Greek poet Antipatro enumerated, in an epigram, a complete list: "Two statues, a temple, a hanging garden, two graves and a lighthouse," according to a recent definition, intentionally minimalist. But touched by the Renaissance, with the rediscovery of the classical world, the myth consecrated those masterpieces, although by then most of the seven had been destroyed. Today in fact there remains only the pyramid of Giza, that which is searched for extraterrestrial mirages by the followers of the New Age. And here Weber enters the field: "It is time to retire that list from 2000 years ago" says the Swiss, some times knocking on the door of Unesco, the international organization that offers guardianship for 630 masterpieces of humanity. From here is compiled an initial list of 17 candidates to vote for: not all ancient - there is also the Statue of the Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. And with the patronage of the director-actor Dennis Hopper, of the writer Paulo Coelho and of the aviator-explorer Bertrand Piccard, the vote on the Internet starts with, "the most democratic tool of the world." The navigators have added new candidates to the list, from Machu Picchu to the Opera House of Sydney. Now there are twenty-three masterpieces, but only seven at the end will be Wonders. |
Translated by Gary Feuerstein, 3 October 2000 from the La Repubblica article
Personal e-mail to:
gary@endex.com
