How to Celebrate 7 Wonders Day

PHOTO: The Great Wall of China was a new world wonder in 2007. (photo via Flickr/Matt Barber)

It’s been 10 years since the New 7 Wonders of the World were announced on July 7, 2007. Now, an international day has been declared to honor the new wonders of the world every 7/7: 7 Wonders Day.

More than 100 million votes were cast in the campaign to name the new wonders during 2007, and the winners were announced in Lisbon, Portugal.

The Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, Jordan’s Petra, the Colosseum in Rome, Mexico’s Chichen Itza, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil and Peru’s ancient Inca city, Machu Picchu, were revealed as the world’s newest wonders.

The canon was then expanded in 2011 with the New 7 Wonders of Nature and again in 2014 with the New 7 Wonders Cities.

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“New 7 Wonders has so far generated more than $5 billion worth of economic, tourism and national promotional value for locations participating in its campaigns,” said Jean-Paul de la Fuente, director of New 7 Wonders.

“In the 10 years since 7/7/7, people’s lives around the world continue to be directly enriched. This is a major, global-scale proof of a concept based on mass virtual online dynamics creating concrete economic outcomes,” added de la Fuente.

There are now 21 wonders to celebrate on July 7 each year.

According to New 7 Wonders, the goal of the campaign is to “inspire, to wonder and to celebrate the elected Wonders while raising the profile of Global Memory in a positive and motivating way.”

The campaign encourages people to go out and be active while creating wonders of their own:

—Start cleaning up a site you consider a wonder and spread the message of the good you are doing.

—Teachers, start a theme day or a theme week in class around 7 Wonders Day (we’ll provide you with guidelines).

—Come up with your own creative ideas and make this day wonderful and memorable.

Those who prefer social media can hashtag posts with #7WondersDay and upload photos to WondersWall.com.

Anyone can get involved in 7 Wonders Day,” said New 7 Wonders founder Bernard Weber.

“Everyone can play a role in safeguarding our heritage by being active and contributing to the success of 7 Wonders Day. Every social media post, share or tweet raises the profile of our elected Wonders in people’s minds and hearts, in the world’s media and on the global development agenda.”

Celebrating this event each year will create a “positive and meaningful” global event.