Only 21 finalists remain in the final stretch of the public's selection of the new seven most noteworthy landmarks in the world, the Swiss-based New7Wonders Foundation has told Discovery News. The goal of the project is to revise the original "seven ancient wonders of the world," since only one — the pyramids of Egypt — still exists today. Finalists for the new group are, in alphabetical order: the Acropolis in Athens; the Alhambra in Granada, Spain; Angkor, Cambodia; Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico; Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro; the Colosseum in Rome; Easter Island Statues, Chile; Eiffel Tower, Paris; Great Wall, China; Hagia Sofia, Istanbul; Kyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan; Kremlin/St. Basil, Moscow; Machu Picchu, Peru; Neuschwanstein Castle, Füssen, Germany; Petra, Jordan; Pyramids of Giza, Egypt; the Statue of Liberty, New York; Stonehenge, Amesbury, United Kingdom; Sydney Opera House, Australia; the Taj Mahal, Agra, India; and Timbuktu, Mali. Over 19 million votes cast online and over the phone resulted in the finalists.

Foundation spokesperson Tia Viering told Discovery News, "We were not surprised by the choices. We were happy that all regions of the world are now represented, but this was not a criteria for them being chosen!" She added, "We're celebrating the amazing diversity of our cultural heritage, and you can really see this diversity in the 21 finalist monuments. We have such different structures, with different purposes and histories and that evoke different emotions." Viering indicated that one goal of the project is to draw attention to these important landmarks, which require regular upkeep and repair. She said, "The only exception is Timbuktu, which is really a special case, since this monument can be compared to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon of the ancient seven wonders. While there are no physical structures associated with it, it revolves around a myth more than anything else, with writings and other valuable items that give life and substance to the myth."

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that's lame that the statue of liberty and eiffel tower are on there. they are not wonders, we know how they were built. the great wall of china is okay because it's soo damn long. they should stick to keeping things on there that we have no idea how they were built or how they got there.

We knew all the wonders from Sid Meiers Civs anyway...

As long as the Pyramids stay, i'm happy.

Pyramids should stay, they were on the orginal list.

hope the Taj gets on!

Angkor has to make the final list... it is amazing.

Ya I voted for Angkor as well

I agree. That is silly. They're not wonders of the world. It's a wonder how they came up with that.

Well apperently people from all over could send in what they though were the wonders of the world starting in 2000 I believe. After that these people shortened the list, from the places that had the most votes down to 77 out of all the places, and then again down to 21. So of course the eifel tower and statue of liberty, both very lame, are on there. It wasnt these select group of people that chose them, its all the people who voted that basically made this list.