Last month, when we selected our Seven Wonders of the Modern World (plus a second set of seven wonders) in the Chicago Tribune Magazine’s special Part 2 on Travel, we invited readers to send us their comments.
(Our Seven Wonders were Angkor Wat, the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, the pyramids of Egypt, Petra, the Statue of Liberty and the Great Wall; the second seven were the Registan, St. Peter’s/Vatican, the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island statues, the Parthenon, the ziggurats of Iraq and the terra cotta army at Xian.)
Most readers who took the time to write weren’t as upset with our choices as they were with the difficulty of squeezing all the world’s man-made wonders into a group of seven–or fourteen–selections.
Some of their comments:
“I don’t like the Eiffel Tower as a `Wonder.’ No imagination, no greatness. I picture the new wonders being like the old wonders in that they reach across the centuries to touch our individual souls as symbols of our struggles, mysteries and collectiveness as mankind. My picks: ziggurat at Ur, Wall of China, Stonehenge, terra cotta army at Xian, Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, Statue of Liberty.”–Diana Estergren, Chicago.
“Didn’t you miss Stonehenge?”–Mrs. Audrey Brownell, New Berlin, Wis.
“How is the Sears Tower more of a wonder than the giants’ dance (Stonehenge)?”–Nicole Martin, Lake in the Hills. (We never said it was. Sears Tower was one of Alfred Borcover’s personal picks for the wonders of America.)
“I was amazed that you omitted the awe-inspiring Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in southern England. I feel that Stonehenge should be one of any Wonders of the World, certainly as much as the Easter Island figures and ziggurats of Iraq. I wonder too why the ruins of the Roman Forum and the Colosseum were not included.”–Lucille Birk, Wilmette.
“After visiting Mont. St. Michel in France, I really think you missed a wonder.”–Peg M. O’Brien, Chicago.
“Surely the Great Zimbabwe (National Monument) with its marvelous soapstone birds is a Wonder.”–Marjorie H. Mayo, Chicago. (The Great Zimbabwe, a group of stone structures, is the largest single ancient structure in sub-Saharan Africa.)
“I would add one other–the Buddhist shrine of Borobudur, located in Java’s interior, completed circa AD 850. Like Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat, it is not for the weak-kneed to explore.”–Kay Munster, Park Ridge.
“On the whole I agree with your list, but with one exception. As much as patriotism would dictate me to agree, I can not feel right in putting the Statue of Liberty among the world’s Seven Wonders! My reasoning (is that) all of the other six probably never could be duplicated today as to construction and cost. Too, all were built over a period of time and in the distant pasts. Miss Liberty was not!
“My list would include Borobudur in Indonesia, the Potala in Tibet, Sacsahuaman in Peru, the Royal Palace in Bangkok and any of the pyramids in Mexico and Central America. Recently, I viewed buildings reported to be the first skyscrapers in the world, high in the mountains of Yemen in a village called Al Hajra. I think they would qualify too!”–Norma Osborne, Elkhart, Ind.
“I find it difficult to believe that a place could not be found for the church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. From the date of its completion in 537 until its capture by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, it was the grandest, most awesome building in Christendom. As for recognizability, who can see the immense, dusky shadow of Hagia Sophia against the golden light of the setting sun on the Bosporus and not know he is approaching Istanbul, crossroad of Europe and Asia?”–Daniel E. McCarthy, Western Springs.
“We write not to complain of omissions but to suggest supplements to (very soon, we hope) future selections of a fourth, Seven or fifth or…???
“May we suggest some of the most aesthetically pleasing sights that man is capable of constructing–the suspension bridge–especially when taken in the context of it surroundings, the sea, the hills, the sky, like Golden Gate. We’d like to add, if not the temple of Abu Simbel, at least the complex (at least equal to Angkor Wat) of Karnak and Luxor for sheer beauty and immensity. If size is not a criterion, then the Colosseum in Rome rate along with the Eiffel Tower as a city’s signature, to say nothing of the interior of Rome’s Pantheon. How about Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, or at least consider any number of Mayan temples? If the Parthenon hails the advent of Western Civilization, the same can be said of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
“Obviously so many additions and deletions can be debated, but what’s important is that you really started something.”–Jan and Frank Modica, Berwyn.
“We have taken a combined total of 10 trips around the world and have visited 12 out of the 14 wonders listed (we have not visited the ziggurat and Xian). We submit our lists–a Magnificent Seven and a Lucky Seven–of places not on your lists but that deserve consideration.
“Magnificent Seven: Pagan (Myanmar), Tikal (Guatemala), Moenjodaro (Pakistan), Ellora and Ajanta Caves (India), Palmyra (Syria), Abu Simbel (Egypt), Copan (Honduras).
“Lucky Seven: Djenne Mosque (Mali), Ephesus (Turkey), Borobudur (Java, Indonesia), Temple of Karnak (Egypt), Cologne Cathedral (Germany), Mesa Verde (Colorado, U.S.), Palenque (Mexico).–Tom and Ellen Flannigan, Glencoe.
“While I agree that the wonders you listed are indeed prodigious accomplishments, I feel you slighted the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. The Potala was built in the 1600s by human and animal power alone, and is 13 stories in height. No steel or nails were used, and the Tibetans did not use the wheel. The Potala is a huge maze of over 1,000 rooms which was the seat of Tibetan government until the 1959 uprising, after which the Dalai Lama and his government left for exile in India.”–Bill Thomas, Naperville.
“The only one with which I take issue is the ziggurats in Iraq. Here it certainly appears your group has gone a little too elitist. Perhaps the picture with sheep/goats grazing in the foreground doesn’t do it justice. It appears to be a really big, hideous rock! I expected to see the space ship from `Close Encounters’ rising from behind it. Do you think the sheep would notice?
“What is appropriate is the Frank Lloyd Wright creation Fallingwater (or any of a half dozen or so other modern architectural wonders such as Saarinen’s St. Louis Arch), if for no other reason that a 20th Century winner is needed somewhere in the pack.
“I’ll bet the one who argued so passionately for the ziggurats inclusion on your list had a `power position’ over some of you around that table. I can smell office toadying 155 miles away, even down here in old uncultured, Philistine-laden Peoria!”–Barry H. Westfall, Peoria.
And now a few final words from us: The passionate arguer for the ziggurats was senior writer (and former foreign editor) Jim Yuenger, who died of a heart attack shortly after the panel (without any toadying) picked the seven-plus-seven Wonders.
And as for the photo, we were unable to locate one in time of the most impressive ziggurat–the one at Ur that Yuenger had so vividly described. The photo used was of a lesser (and eroded) ziggurat at Dur-Kurigalzu. But we finally unearthed a photo of the ziggurat at Ur; it’s on this week’s cover.
