7 wonders of the world
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction• NAME AND INTRODUCTION (1 TO 2 ).• THE GREAT PYRAMID OF EGYPT (3 TO 5).• TAJ MAHAL (6 TO 8).• CHRIST THE REDEEMER STATUE (9 TO 11).• PETRA JORDAN (12 TO 14).• THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA (15 TO 17).• BABYLON SWING (18 TO 20 ).• COLOSSEUM (21 TO 23).
The Seven Wonders of the World are: the Great Pyramid of Giza, the statue
of Zeus at Olympia, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Tomb of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, the
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the
Colossus at Locations.
The Taj Mahal, in Agra, India, is the spectacular mausoleum built by Muslim
Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to honor the memory of his beloved late wife, Mumtaz
Mahal.Construction began in 1632 and took about 15 years to complete. The opulent, domed mausoleum, which stands in formal walled
gardens, is generally regarded as finest example of Mughal art and architecture. It includes four minarets, each more than 13
stories tall.
The 105-foot-tall (38-meter-tall) "Christ the Redeemer" statue in
Rio de Janeiro,Brazil, was among the "new seven wonders of the world"
announced July 7 following a global poll to decide a new list
of human-made marvels.
Perched on the edge of the Arabian Desert, Petra was the capital of the Nabataean
kingdom of King Aretas IV (9 B.C. to A.D. 40).Petra is famous for its many stone structures such as a 138-foot-tall (42-meter-tall) temple
carved with classical facades into rose-colored rock. The ancient city also included tunnels,
water chambers, and an amphitheater, which held 4,000 people.
The desert site wasn't known to the West until Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt came
across it in 1812.
Actually, China is not the only country in history that built wall along its boundary. Athens, the Roman Empire, Denmark and Korea all did so at certain time in the past. The Hadrian's Wall in northern England, built "to separate the Romans from the barbarians", extended 117 kilometres from Wallsend-on-Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west.Allthe walls were built for the purpose of military defence.
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high. Wide enough, he said, to allow two
four-horse chariots to pass each other. The city also had inner walls which were "not so
thick as the first, but hardly less strong." Inside these double walls were fortresses
and temples containing immense statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the
famous Tower of Babel, a temple to the god Marduk, that seemed to reach to the
heavens.
The only finalist from Europe to make it into the top seven—the Colosseum inRome, Italy—once held up to 50,000 spectators who came to watch gory games involving gladiators, wild animals, and prisoners.Construction began around A.D. 70 under Emperor Vespasian. Modern sports stadiums still resemble the Colosseum's famous design.