Who knew the Seven Wonders of the World were flexible?

On July 7, 2007 (7/7/07), the new Seven Wonders of the World will be announced in Lisbon, Portugal, at an official declaration ceremony. The day before will have been the final day to participate in the world-wide voting process to decipher which seven architectural works will be deemed “wonders” — replacing the previous seven, all of which are located in the Mediterranean.

The voting started in January 2006 and is open to all countries, at all hours, everyday. The top seven are to be picked from 21 finalists chosen earlier by a panel of architectural experts.

The 21 finalists to vote from are: The Acropolis; Spain’s Alhambra; Great Wall of China; Statue of Liberty; Pyramids of Giza; Eiffel Tower; Peru’s Machu Picchu; Taj Mahal; Turkey’s Hagia Sophia; Stonehenge; Easter Island; Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle; Sydney Opera House; Russia’s Kremlin; The Colosseum; Japan’s Kiyomizu Temple; Cambodia’s Angkor; Petra, Jordan; Brazil’s Statue of Christ Redeemer; Chiche Itza, Mexico; Timbuktu.

So far more than 20 million people have voted, and the number is rising as the story is attracting more public interest.

With 18 percent of the student body enrolling in a study abroad program before graduation and 1,523 international students from 94 countries, much of Binghamton University has adopted an interest in world affairs.

If the vote were up to the 46 BU students polled, the Acropolis, The Colosseum, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids at Giza, Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal would be the world’s new seven wonders.

While several of the BU voters admitted ignorance to the majority of the candidates, there were some that took the matter quite seriously — enough to take a look at all finalists before simply choosing the seven most recognizable names.

Binghamton University’s Professor Andrew Walkling, who teaches art history, English and theater classes and has a doctorate in history, narrowed the finalists down to his personal picks: The Acropolis, Angkor, the Great Wall of China, Hagia Sophia, the Pyramids at Giza, Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal.

Walkling said that these would be his picks for places that everyone should “make an effort to see once in their lifetime.”

Though he thought the project was interesting, he said, “It doesn’t make sense to have one universal list of wonders. Reducing it down to a mere seven doesn’t take into account our differences as people in our responses to things.”

The landmarks that he said he would have on his personal list of wonders that were missing from the final 21 are the Cave Churches of Cappadocia in Turkey, Zanzibar (which is an island off Africa) and Dubrovnik in Croatia.

The man behind the New7Wonders project is Bernard Weber, the well-traveled French film-maker who is fluent in five languages. Through the interactive project, Weber is aiming to create a global discourse and a sense of unity through the process of finding a new list. He also seeks to protect the heritage of mankind through this renewal of the wonders as appropriate for the people of 2007 and thereafter.

According to the campaign’s homepage, “The New7Wonders campaign has the express aim of documenting, maintaining, restoring and reconstructing world heritage.”

The idea of having Seven Wonders of the World derives from the list of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World which was created around 200 B.C. as a sort of travel guide to highlight the sites to be seen around the Mediterranean and parts of the Middle East. The ancient wonders were the Pyramids at Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. The only surviving structures are the Pyramids at Giza, which are up for the coveted title of being one of the seven wonders yet again.

To vote you can go to www.new7wonders.com.