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Taj set to be in new seven wonders' list

Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 22:00 Hrs

Agra: The Taj Mahal, India's 17th architectural marvel and an endearing monument of love, stands a "very good chance" to be included in the list of the "seven new wonders of the world", being prepared by a Switzerland-based trust.

"Looking at its historical standing, beauty, architectural marvel, the 17th century monument has a very good chance of making it to the top of the list," said Bernard Webber, founder of the New 7 Wonders trust that has invited votes from around the world.

"India is voting strongly for Taj and people from several countries are also voting for it. We are quite optimistic that in the next seven months, it will emerge stronger among others," said Webber, who is currently in India to promote the symbol of love.

The final list will be announced July 7, 2007 at Lisbon, Portugal.

The trust initially shortlisted 200 monuments across the globe of which 20 were in India. On the basis of online voting from people around the world, the trust eliminated 123 monuments in the second phase.

On Jan 1, 2006, the New 7 Wonder Panel of Experts, chaired by the former head of UNESCO, Federico Mayor, shortlisted those nominations with the most votes received by the end of 2005. The top 77 choices then have been narrowed down to 21.

In the third phase, only 21 monuments are competing with each other for a top seven finish. Interestingly, Taj Mahal is among the first seven monuments as of the latest ranking.

The monuments have been shortlisted under various criteria including its message, engineering prowess and beauty among others and "Taj qualifies all of them".

All the monuments shortlisted by the trust are also the UNESCO's world heritage sites.

The Statue of Liberty (US), Stonehenge (Britain), Eiffel Tower (France), the Pyramids of Gaza (Egypt), the Sydney Opera House (Australia) and Kiyomizu Temple (Japan) are among the 21 finalists.

The trust, which is getting the required support from the Indian tourism ministry, handed over the certificate of Taj's candidature to Uttar Pradesh Tourism Joint Secretary D.K. Barman.

"We encourage any organization's effort to take Taj's image a step forward. Taj has its own brand name but a top seven finish will bring more foreign tourists to the place.

"Currently Taj sees nearly 3 million visitors every year of which only 400,000 are foreigners. We expect more foreign tourists and hope the effort will help the cause," said Barman.

Speaking about enhancing the Taj's chances in the competition, Webber said that apart from online voting, people could now send their choice by SMSs. People either can vote by logging on to the new7wonders.com or by SMSs to 6767.

So far, nearly 23 million votes have been cast - "a testimony to the powerful appeal of this first ever global vote".

The world tour was launched in September this year at Acropolis, Athens, in a tribute to the ancient Greek origin of the 'wonders of the world' concept some 2,200 years back.

Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj, made of white marble, as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz. Taj, as described by English poet Edwin Arnold is "not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passions of an emperor's love wrought in living stones."
Source: IANS

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