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The New Seven Wonders

The New Seven Wonders: a chapter of the Wonders of the World Book, with a photo of each wonder and the story behind it.

10 cards · Geography

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Each Zap teaches up to 5 new cards, so you learn the chapter a few at a time.

Checked by the Brain Zap team · reviewed 27 Oct 2026

Sources: Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (Britannica), World Heritage List (UNESCO), Wikimedia Commons (the photos)

Preview

  • A stone rampart with watchtowers winding over green mountains

    Walls and towers that wind for thousands of km in China

    Show answer: Walls and towers that wind for thousands of km in China

    Great Wall of China

    Learn more: Its walls total over 20,000 km, but despite the myth you can't see it with the naked eye from space.

  • A temple facade with columns carved into a pink sandstone cliff

    City carved into rose-red cliffs in Jordan

    Show answer: City carved into rose-red cliffs in Jordan

    Petra

    Learn more: The Nabataeans carved it about 2,000 years ago, when it grew rich on the incense trade.

  • A statue with outstretched arms on a mountain top, above clouds at sunset

    Statue with open arms above Rio de Janeiro

    Show answer: Statue with open arms above Rio de Janeiro

    Christ the Redeemer

    Learn more: Finished in 1931, it is 30 m tall and is struck by lightning several times a year.

  • Stone ruins and terraces on a green mountain ridge, with a steep peak behind

    Inca citadel on a ridge high in the Andes

    Show answer: Inca citadel on a ridge high in the Andes

    Machu Picchu

    Learn more: Built around 1450, it was abandoned a century later and missed by the Spanish conquerors.

  • A stepped stone pyramid with stairways on its sides, on a green lawn

    Stepped Maya pyramid where a serpent of light appears

    Show answer: Stepped Maya pyramid where a serpent of light appears

    Chichén Itzá

    Learn more: Its pyramid, El Castillo, has 365 steps in all, one for each day of the year.

About this topic

In 2007 a Swiss foundation asked the world to choose seven new wonders, and announced the winners in Lisbon on 7 July 2007. The Great Wall of China, Petra, Christ the Redeemer, Machu Picchu, Chichén Itzá, the Colosseum and the Taj Mahal won the vote, and the Great Pyramid was made an honorary member. This chapter covers each of them, and how and when they were chosen.

This is a chapter of the Wonders of the World Book. Each card shows a picture and asks one question, with a hint before you answer and a short reason after. Every photo is credited and openly licensed.

All 10 cards

  1. Walls and towers that wind for thousands of km in China
    A stone rampart with watchtowers winding over green mountains

    Great Wall of China

    Learn more: Its walls total over 20,000 km, but despite the myth you can't see it with the naked eye from space.

  2. City carved into rose-red cliffs in Jordan
    A temple facade with columns carved into a pink sandstone cliff

    Petra

    Learn more: The Nabataeans carved it about 2,000 years ago, when it grew rich on the incense trade.

  3. Statue with open arms above Rio de Janeiro
    A statue with outstretched arms on a mountain top, above clouds at sunset

    Christ the Redeemer

    Learn more: Finished in 1931, it is 30 m tall and is struck by lightning several times a year.

  4. Inca citadel on a ridge high in the Andes
    Stone ruins and terraces on a green mountain ridge, with a steep peak behind

    Machu Picchu

    Learn more: Built around 1450, it was abandoned a century later and missed by the Spanish conquerors.

  5. Stepped Maya pyramid where a serpent of light appears
    A stepped stone pyramid with stairways on its sides, on a green lawn

    Chichén Itzá

    Learn more: Its pyramid, El Castillo, has 365 steps in all, one for each day of the year.

  6. Rome's great amphitheatre
    The curved stone walls and arches of a huge Roman amphitheatre

    Colosseum

    Learn more: It held about 50,000 people, who watched gladiators and wild animals fight.

  7. White marble tomb an emperor built for his wife
    A white marble tomb with a great dome and four minarets, behind long gardens

    Taj Mahal

    Learn more: Shah Jahan built it for Mumtaz Mahal; about 20,000 workers spent some 20 years on it.

  8. Year the New Seven Wonders were announced

    2007

    Learn more: The results were announced in Lisbon on 7 July 2007, a date written 07/07/07.

  9. How the New Seven Wonders were chosen

    A worldwide public vote

    Learn more: The organisers said over 100 million votes were cast; UNESCO took no part in it.

  10. The ancient wonder given honorary status in 2007

    Great Pyramid of Giza

    Learn more: Egypt objected to it competing in a vote, so it was named an honorary member instead.

Image credits

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