The Ultimate Seven World Wonders

And now, here is the list you've been waiting for! Bernhard Weber be damned, I'm throwing out his rules and naming the seven structures I believe constitute a modern set of wonders of the world.

1. The Pyramids, Giza, Egypt
When the Pyramids were listed as a nominee for Weber's list, the Egyptian government protested. As the sole survivor of Herodotus' ancient list, the Egyptians were furious that they would have to compete with all sorts of Johnny-come-latelies for reinclusion. I think that the Egyptians would have absolutely nothing to worry about. After all, when Herodotus made his list 2000 years ago, the Pyramids were still considered ancient. In addition to surviving all these years, the Pyramids are massive and mystical.

2. The Great Wall, China
Nothing can quite match the Pyramids in terms of mystique or staying power, but the Great Wall blows it away when it comes to mass. We extolled the virtues of Qin Shi Huangdi great creation yesterday, but think about this for a second: it's 4,000 miles long. That's like building a wall from New York to Los Angeles (via Atlanta and Seattle, of course). The huge asterisk is that not all of the wall survives (or was ever built), but even with the omissions, the scale is still ridiculous.

3. Taj Mahal, Agra, India
Maybe it's not as big as the Great Wall (then again, nothing is), but the Taj is a marvel from both an engineering and an aesthetic standpoint. One thing that makes the Taj such a wonderful structure (aside for the incredibly comforting four-way symmetry) is the fact that the Mogul architectural style combines elements of the Persian, Turkish, Arabic, and Indian traditions, which is perfect for its place at the cross roads of civilizations along the trade routes to the Far East.

4. Lalibela, Ethiopia
While other places in the world are home to churches that are hewn out of rock, none are like those that the medieval Ethiopians constructed at Lalibela. Each of the twelve free-standing subterranean churches is carved from solid rock, which means that people excavated the earth around them and carved away at rock both inside and outside, leaving a shell of rock as the building with a roof level with the ground. These churches aren't just amorphous hunks of rock either -- they are finely sculpted pieces of architecture, standing several stories high, and still being used even today.

5. St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Maybe it wasn't carved out of a single rock, but the interior of St. Peter's Basilica is downright awe-inspiring. Nowhere else have I seen marble that is glisteningly smooth with colors that are so vivid. The mid-afternoon sun filtering down from the skylights above complete the heavenly experience. If there is one structure on earth that single-handedly can inspire an atheist to believe in a higher power, St. Peter's is it.

6. World Trade Center, New York, United States
At the time it was built, the World Trade Center was the tallest building on earth. Actually, buildings. There were two of them, you know. What distinguished the Twin Towers, besides their size (each tower had its own exclusive ZIP code) was the fact that they were sheer rectangular prisms. The square footage of the first floor was identical to that of the 101st floor. You stood at the bottom and you could see all the way to the top. And to make things difficult, it was built on landfill reclaimed from the Hudson River. After the events of 9/11/01, is wonderful structure has been resigned to our collective memories, but it deserves a spot on my list.

7. Burj Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Well, it won't be completed until 2009, but I won't let that little technicality stand in my way. As mentioned before, it's exact height is a closely-guarded secret, but at an estimated height in excess of 2,600 feet, it will be almost 50% taller than the next highest free-standing structure. As of right now, it is three floors away from becoming the tallest building ever, and they're nowhere close to finishing. For perspective, imagine standing atop Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro and then looking up to see the top of a building. It blows my mind.

6a. Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
7a. CN Tower, Toronto, Canada
If I force myself to stick to the criteria on Weber's list, only deviating from the pre-selected list of nominees, I'd need to replace the World Trade Center (which does not exist anymore today) and the Burj Dubai (which does not yet exist today). We'll replace the World Trade Center with another set of twin towers -- just as tall, though a bit more architecturally gentle -- and we'll replace the Burj with what is currently the world's tallest free-standing tower, and let it enjoy the fleeting final years (months, perhaps) of its reign.