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 Travel & Outdoors | July 2007 
Latin American Countries Celebrate Three New Seven World Wonders
 People's Daily Online
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| | People celebrate in front of the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in southern Mexico, Saturday, July 7, 2007. (AP/Israel Leal) | 
| | The ruins of Peru's famed Machu Picchu are seen near Cuzco. (AP/Karel Navarro) | 
| | A priest holds a mass at the base of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro July 8, 2007. (Reuters/Cris Borges) |
Latin American countries on Sunday celebrated in different ways the naming of three sites in Mexico, Brazil and Peru as the new Seven World Wonders.
Mexico's ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer and Peru's Machu Picchu were chosen by Internet and telephone voters as the seven modern-day wonders of the world.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio da Silva and Peru's President Alan Garcia celebrated the event in their respective countries.
Calderon congratulated his countrymen on Sunday for Chichen Itza pyramid, in southeast Yucatan, being listed among the new Seven World Wonders.
"We have become promoters of our rich historic and cultural heritage, and it also reflects the great strength of our identity and past; the solid roots that nurture and unite us Mexicans and identifies us, generates enormous strength that gives Mexican society an edge as a nation," said Calderon.
In Peru, Garcia said "Words and votes of hundreds of millions of people worldwide have been put together to acknowledge the cultural value, the historic importance and the social power of Peru," with the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru as one of the new Seven World Wonders.
Lula congratulated Rio de Janeiro's inhabitants for the selection of the 32-meter-high and 700-ton Christ Redeemer, located at the peak of the 700-meter Corcovado mountain in Tijuca Forest National Park, overlooking the city.
"The Christ Redeemer always was a wonder of Rio de Janeiro. From this time it is also one of the New Seven World Wonders," he said.
The New Seven Wonders Foundation announced the new Seven World Wonders on Saturday in the Portugal capital of Lisbon.
The foundation launched the campaign in January, allowing voters to choose from 21 sites short-listed out of 77. It said it had gathered nearly 100 millions votes by the end of polling at midnight Friday.
The other four New Seven Wonders are China's Great Wall, recognized as a Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, India's Taj Mahal, the centuries-old pink ruins of Petra in Jordan, and the Coliseum in Rome.
The pink ruins of Petra city in Jordan lie in a basin among mountains and it is famous for its stone structures carved into the rock.
The Coliseum in Rome, originally the Flavian Amphitheater, was completed in 80 A.D. under Titus.
The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum in Agra, India. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned it as a mausoleum for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Its construction began in 1632 and was completed in 1648.
Source: Xinhua |
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