Culture

Egypt says pyramids still 'only wonder of the world'

by ryan | July 9, 2007 at 11:57 am

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The list of the new seven wonders of the world have left many wondering exactly why these sites were picked and others weren't. Egyptian officials are perhaps the most upset and have discounted the entire 'contest' as a publicity stunt. The pyramids are the only remaining wonder from the original list of seven.

Egypt said Sunday that the pyramids of Giza remained the only wonder of the world, snubbing a contest in which seven "new" wonders were selected by Internet and telephone voters as having "no value."

Seven new wonders of the world, including the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal in India, were selected at a star-studded event in Lisbon Saturday after nearly 100 million voters made their choice out of a list of 21 sites.

"This contest will not detract from the value of the pyramids, which is the only real wonder of the world," Egypt's antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass said.

And here is the classic bureaucratic thinking

[qurl="http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070708-100843-7680r"]He said the competition "has no value," because "the masses do not write history."

(I'm sure that NowPublic contributors disagree with this - may I remind you of the Sippy Cup which was completely crowd powered)

And continuing with the sob story...

Egypt was enraged when it was initially included in the competition, describing as "ridiculous" the fact that the only surviving wonder of the ancient world be put to a vote.

In April, competition organizers removed the pyramids of Giza from the list and granted it the title of "Honorary New Seven Wonders."

What do you think...? Should are the Pyramids the only true 'wonder of the world'? Post a comment and let me know.

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Roving Gastronome

at 13:52 on July 9th, 2007

As a guidebook author, I can pretty safely say the Pyramids will do just fine without being granted this new title. But I can see Hawass's defensiveness (if not his arrogance re:the wisdom of the masses), because Egypt's economy depends almost entirely on tourism (and aid from the US), and the Pyramids are the biggest jackpot of all.

I'm more concerned about what the "wonder of the world" title will mean for a smaller place like Chichen Itza, which I also write about for travel guides. It's a massive tourist destination, but not quite in the same league as the Pyramids when it comes to numbers of visitors. If getting dubbed a "wonder of the world" increases tourism to Chichen Itza substantially, it will put a huge strain on resources in the area--I just hope it won't make Chichen Itza similar to the Pyramids, as a place where the tour bus rules supreme, and independent travelers can barely find a quiet place to think.

Incidentally, I wrote a little more about the current situation at the Pyramids, and how tourists and touts are managed, over on the Lonely Planet Travel Blog--see here (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog/2007/06/battleground-pyramids.html).