Petra News Agency
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
President of the New
Seven Wonders of the World Campaign to Visit Jordan
Amman, Jan. 16 (Petra)—President of the New Seven Wonders of the World Campaign,
Bernard Weber is expected to visit Jordan this week as part of efforts to create
seven symbols of global unity.
Tia Viering, Head of Communications, New7wounders said the people of the world
chose Petra and then the New7wonders Panel of Experts selected Petra as one of
the 21 finalists.
Viering said in an interview with The Jordan Information Bureau in London as
part of the bureau’s efforts to promote Petra to become one of the new seven
wonders, that Petra has a chance to become one of the new wonders.
“Petra is not one of the top 7 in the last ranking and it would need votes from
people all over to get there,” she said, adding it is currently in the middle
seven and that it has to move up a bit and keep that momentum to be one of the
new seven wonders.
“We have had an extremely positive experience preparing for our World Tour visit
in Jordan and have found working with the Jordanian authorities one of the most
pleasant and easy part of the whole Tour,” Viering said.
She said there hasn’t been much media coverage for the campaign and expressed
hope that there would change during the visit to Amman and Petra.
“Many people in other countries have vaguely heard of Petra but do not know much
about it, so they have to be moved and wowed and inspired to vote, and then
ideally come and visit Petra,” Viering added.
Jordan, she said, needs to follow the example of Peru, which put out an
international press release about its efforts to get out the vote in Peru and
abroad. “People might be interested to hear a bit Petra and why it is a very
exciting candidate and a sort of cultural ambassador for the Arab world,” she
said.
Viering pointed out that she was looking forward to seeing Petra and
experiencing the Jordanian culture and people, noting Petra was widely
recognized as a tremendously significant feat of engineering-and incredible city
carved into rock, in the middle of the desert, which flourished and prospered
for centuries.
The whole campaign is the brainchild of a Swiss Canadian visionary, Bernard
Weber, who had always been very interested in history, and fascinated by the
Ancient 7 wonders. Of the Ancient Wonders, only the Pyramids in Egypt remain
standing.
On the criteria used to select the candidates, Viering said the first step was
to collect nominations from the people of the world, which resulted in some 200
nomination.
A New7Wonders Panel of experts shortlisted the current 21 finalists from the top
77 nominees. They used their vast experience and their personal judgment to
select the 21 finalist monuments based on criteria that included beauty,
complexity, historic values, cultural relevance and architectural significance.
The New 7 Wonders of the world will be celebrated, as elected by the people of
the world in the first-ever global vote, in Lisbon, Portugal on July 7, 2007.