THE NEW 7 WONDERS OF THE WORLD The New7Wonders organization is happy to announce the following 7 candidates have been elected to represent global heritage throughout history. The Taj Mahal, India Chichén Itzá, Mexico Christ Redeemer, Brazil The Great Wall, China Machu Picchu, Peru Petra, Jordan The Roman Colloseum, Italy

The Taj Mahal, regarded as one of the most beautiful monuments, was tonight voted in a global poll as one of the new seven wonders of the world. 

Officials of the I Media Corp, the Indian representative of 'New7wonders of the World', claimed that they got the information about the Mughal marvel getting into the list from the Swiss organisation which organised the worldwide campaign

Also in the top 10 after votes were cast by more than 90 million people are the Colosseum in Rome, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, Easter Island, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer and Jordan's Petra.

The winners were to be announced at a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal.

The Great Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving structures from the original seven wonders of the ancient world, are to retain their status in addition to the new seven.

People from every country in the world voted by Internet or by phone message for the world's top architectural marvels, the nonprofit organization conducting the balloting, called 
The Colosseum, the Great Wall, Machu Picchu, India's Taj Mahal and Petra have been among the leaders since January. The Acropolis and the Statue of Christ Redeemer recently received a surge in votes.

The United States' Statue of Liberty and Australia's Sydney Opera House have been sitting near the bottom from the start.

Also in the less-voted group are Cambodia's Angkor, Spain's Alhambra, Turkey's Hagia Sophia, Japan's Kiyomizu Temple, Russia's Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle, Britain's Stonehenge and Mali's Timbuktu.

The campaign was begun in 1999 by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber. Almost 200 nominations came in from around the world, and the list of candidates was narrowed down to the 21 most-voted by the start of 2006.

The organizers conceded there was no foolproof way to prevent people from voting more than once for their favorite.

Weber's Switzerland-based foundation aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments. It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting rights.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, keeps a list of World Heritage Sites, which now totals 851 places, but the agency was not involved in Weber's project.

The original list of wonders were concentrated in the Mediterranean and Middle East. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharos lighthouse off Alexandria have all vanished.

The New7Wonders of the World were announced tonight in a star-studded ceremony featuring a fanfare of musical performances and a parade of world dignitaries. All came together for one night to highlight the world's cultural gems and shared heritage.

The New7Wonders of the World, in random order, are: Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China, Petra, Chichén Itzá , the Statue of Christ Redeemer, the Colosseum and the Machu Picchu. More than 100 million votes were cast worldwide.