1. History

The origin of the idea of seven wonders of the world dates back to Herodotus (484 BC – 425 BC) and Callimachus (305 BC – 240 BC), who made lists which included the Great Pyramid of Giza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes and Lighthouse of Alexandria. Only the Great Pyramid of Giza is still standing. The other six were destroyed by earthquake, fire, or other causes.[11]
The finalist candidates for the New Seven Wonders.

According to the New7Wonders milestone page,[12] Swiss-originated Canadian filmmaker and aviator Bernard Weber launched the project in September 1999. The project's web site started in 2001 when Mr. Weber paid $700 for a site based in Canada.[3] To be included on the new list, the wonders had to have been built before 2000 and in an acceptable state of preservation. By November 24, 2005, 177 monuments were up for consideration. On January 1, 2006, the New7Wonders Foundation said the list had been narrowed to 21 sites,[13] by its panel of seven world leading architects from five continents: Zaha Hadid, Cesar Pelli, Tadao Ando, Harry Seidler, Aziz Tayob, Yung Ho Chang and its President, Prof. Federico Mayor, the former Director General of UNESCO.[14] The list was later reduced to 20 removing the Pyramids of Giza — the only remaining of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World — from the voting and designating it an Honorary New7Wonders Candidate.[15]

The project assigned what it called attributes to each finalist, such as perseverance for the Great Wall of China, passion for the Taj Mahal, and awe for the Easter Island statues.

A midpoint tally reported a top 10 list which included all 7 winners, plus the Acropolis, Easter Island, and the Eiffel Tower.[16]

Federico Mayor, a former UNESCO Director General, was the president of project's expert panel as an individual.[17] New7Wonders is not connected with UNESCO.[18]

Organisers stated that the primary goal of the campaign was to foster and encourage global exchange and intercultural appreciation. A goal of New7Wonders has always been "raising awareness about the world’s unique cultural heritage sites (...) Getting that message across would be something of a wonder on its own" according to Newsweek and MSNBC, July 5, 2007.[3]
source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Seven_Wonders_of_the_World