More than 2,000 years after the Greeks first identified the seven wonders of the world, arguments over what should be on the list are breaking out again.
Last week saw the Channel Tunnel crowned a modern 'wonder of the world', alongside the Sydney Opera House, Eiffel Tower, and Empire State Building. The Chunnel's surprise elevation to the status of world wonder came courtesy of an online poll by Teletext Holidays, but it hasn't even made the shortlist of a far larger poll by an organisation called the New 7 Wonders Foundation.
It will announce its final seven next month at a ceremony in Lisbon's Benfica stadium after a six-year deliberation process, in which more than 45 million votes have been cast.
The organisers claim their website, www.new7wonders.com, is one of the most visited in the world, beating the UN, the Olympics and Fifa. There are 21 sites on the shortlist, and Bernard Weber, the Swiss founder of the self-styled 'global election' has been raising its profile by flying a heavily branded hot-air balloon over many of them, from the Taj Mahal and the Acropolis to Granada's Alhambra. 'Future generations will ask "where were you when the New 7 Wonders of the World were chosen?"' he says.
Others are not so pleased, however. Egypt, home of the Giza Pyramids, the only surviving wonder of the world from Herodotus's original list, is furious at what officials see as a frivolous challenge to its unrivalled claim. Senior officials have complained to the Swiss ambassador in Cairo, and Farouk Hosny, the Egyptian culture minister, has written to the director-general of Unesco, saying the company behind the vote is 'primarily aiming for profit' and pointing out that Weber is linked to a tour company in Switzerland. 'The Seven Wonders should be chosen by a cultural institution, not the average man on the street,' he added.