Two lists of wonders, twenty-two centuries apart — the marvels of the ancient world, and the ones the whole world voted for in our own time.
A special shelf in the Library, tended by Polo the Chief Navigator and Polly the Travel Concierge.
Chosen by the world · 2007
The New Seven Wonders
In 2007, more than 100 million people around the world voted to name seven surviving landmarks the New Seven Wonders. Every one is still standing — and every one is a trip you can take. Open a book, then book the tour.
Great Wall of China
China
Fifteen centuries of stone winding thousands of miles across mountains, grassland, and desert — the longest thing humans have ever built.
Tickets & tours ›Petra
Jordan
The rose-red city carved straight into desert cliffs by the Nabataeans, reached through a mile-long slot canyon that opens onto the Treasury.
Tickets & tours ›Christ the Redeemer
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Arms open wide above the city from the summit of Corcovado — an Art Deco colossus watching over the beaches and bay of Rio.
Tickets & tours ›Machu Picchu
Peru
The lost Inca citadel adrift on a ridge above the clouds, unseen by the outside world until 1911 and still wrapped in Andean mist at dawn.
Tickets & tours ›Chichén Itzá
Yucatán, Mexico
El Castillo, the great Maya step-pyramid where, twice a year, the setting sun throws a serpent of light down the staircase. A short trip from Cancún.
Tickets & tours ›Colosseum
Rome, Italy
The greatest arena of the ancient world, where 50,000 Romans once roared — still standing at the heart of the Eternal City.
Tickets & tours ›Taj Mahal
Agra, India
A white-marble mausoleum built by an emperor for the wife he lost — perfectly symmetrical, mirrored in its long reflecting pool.
Tickets & tours ›The Great Pyramid of Giza was named an honorary member, so the only surviving ancient wonder didn’t have to compete — you’ll find it on the shelf just below.
The classical world · c. 2nd century BC
The Ancient Seven Wonders
The original list, gathered by Greek travellers more than 2,000 years ago. Time has taken all but one — yet you can still stand where six of them stood.
Great Pyramid of Giza
Giza, Egypt
The oldest wonder and the only one still with us — built around 2560 BC and, for nearly 4,000 years, the tallest structure on Earth.
Explore Giza pyramid tours ›Hanging Gardens of Babylon
near Hillah, Iraq
Terraced gardens said to have spilled greenery down the walls of Babylon — the one wonder historians aren’t sure ever truly existed.
A legend without ruinsStatue of Zeus at Olympia
Olympia, Greece
A seated god of gold and ivory some 40 feet tall, made by Phidias for the sanctuary of the ancient Olympic Games.
See ancient Olympia ›Temple of Artemis
Ephesus, Turkey
A vast marble temple rebuilt three times and burned again; today a single reconstructed column stands among the reeds near Ephesus.
Visit the ruins at Ephesus ›Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Bodrum, Turkey
The tomb of King Mausolus, so magnificent it gave every grand tomb since its name: the mausoleum. Its ruins rest in modern Bodrum.
Visit the Mausoleum ruins ›Colossus of Rhodes
Rhodes, Greece
A bronze giant of the sun-god Helios that towered over the harbour of Rhodes for barely 60 years before an earthquake felled it.
Explore Rhodes ›Lighthouse of Alexandria
Alexandria, Egypt
The Pharos — the tallest lighthouse of antiquity, its fire guiding ships for centuries. Toppled by earthquakes, its very stones were reused to raise the medieval Citadel of Qaitbay, which still guards the harbour on the lighthouse’s own foundations.
Visit Qaitbay Citadel ›† The Hanging Gardens are the one wonder with no ruins to visit — and the one scholars still debate.
Have the wonders always been the same?
Not at all — and that’s the surprising part. The ancient list was never truly fixed. Greek and Roman writers each kept their own roll of marvels, and older versions swapped in the Walls of Babylon or the Ishtar Gate in place of one wonder or another. The familiar seven only settled into place well after the classical age.
Then time did the editing. Six of the seven ancient wonders were toppled by earthquakes, burned, or quarried away, until only the Great Pyramid remained. So in 2007 a Swiss foundation invited the whole world to vote for a new list of wonders that were still standing — and more than 100 million people did. That vote gave us the New Seven Wonders on the top shelf.
There are other sevens still being written, too: the Seven Natural Wonders, the New Seven Wonders of Nature, and the engineering wonders of the modern age — room enough for more shelves in this Library as the Guild grows.
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