7 Incredible Places that *should* be Official World Wonders, but somehow aren’t
My family sometimes likes to joke that we haven’t been everywhere, but it’s definitely on the list! It’s our way of acknowledging that, even for a full-time travel family like us, it’s literally impossible to see and do it all! The reality of the matter is that, while we do want to see it all, sometimes we just have to prioritize certain places over others.
That’s been the case for as long as there has been tourists. In fact, the original ‘7 Wonders of the World’ lists were basically the travel blogs of their time, telling people about the incredible places around the world that they could visit, if they just had the time. More recently, the organization New7Wonders made a new list of 7 World Wonders (chosen by popular vote) that brought the list of official world wonders up to 14!
However, the world is big and there are so many more wonderful places to see! This is my list of 7 that absolutely should be considered world wonders but which didn’t quite make the list.
Unfortunately, I have not yet been to all of these places. But they are definitely on the list.
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
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The ruined city of Angkor and its many temples had been on my list of places to visit for as long as I can remember. In fact, temples like Ta Prohm, where the trees are growing up around and through the temple’s stonework, are the very places that inspired my wanderlust as a kid!
Angkor Wat is the large temple at the heart of Angkor, and is an incredible representation of the majesty of the Khmer empire at its strength. The temple site covers a staggering 402 acres of area, making it the largest religious structure in the entire world, and despite being lost to the jungle for centuries, it remains beautifully preserved.
One of the more interesting mysteries surrounding the temple is that no one really knows why Angkor was abandoned. We just know that, around the year 1431, Angkor was largely deserted until its ‘rediscovery’ in the 1800s.
Terracotta Army, China
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The Terracotta Army is a funerary display for the Qin Shi Huang, who was the first “emperor” of China! (Before that, the Chinese rulers were known as “kings.”) The entirety of Qin Shi Huang’s necropolis covers over 38 square miles of area and was designed to be a representation of the emperor’s compound that would serve him in his afterlife. While this is impressive on its own, the reason this location makes this list is because of the terracotta figures located throughout the compound.
There are literally thousands of terracotta statues buried onsite, and each and every one of them are life-sized figures. They range in height from about 5.7ft-6.6ft tall, and each one has their own face, uniform, and hair-style making each one unique!
The army is composed of generals, infantrymen, cavalry, archers, and more, but there are also statues of acrobats, servants, and a whole host of other people.
And we don’t fully know the extent of it, as the central tomb remains sealed to this day, due to fears that exposing the artifacts within to the air could damage them beyond repair.
Sigiriya, Sri Lanka
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The Sigiriya, or the Lion Rock, is the ruins of an ancient fortress located on a granite pillar in the jungles of Sri Lanka. It was built for the king Kashyapa as his capital during his reign (477-495), but was abandoned soon after death.
The rock itself contained the kings’ citadel, with the Lion Gate located about midway down on a terrace. The base of the rock was surrounded by several lesser palaces and multiple gardens and reservoirs spread out from the rock’s base.
Despite only being used for a relatively short amount of time, during the reign of a single king, the placement of the fortress and the artistic gardens and frescoes of the site are what places it on this list.
The Moai of Easter Island, Chile
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The story of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is a unique and tragic one.
The island is thought to have been originally settled by a group of sailors of Polynesian origin. This could have occurred as early as 800 CE or as late as 1200 CE. However, the Moai statues of Rapa Nui only began to be carved around 1250 CE.
These statues were carved as representations of the islanders’ ancestors and chiefs, with larger statues bestowing more prestige. All of this was fine and good except that the competition to create the most prestigious statues grew to the point that the entire island became deforested!
This deforestation, in turn, led to the downfall of the Rapa Nui civilization to the point that, when Europeans eventually made contact with them, they were largely bound to their single island with no way to make the larger boats needed for voyaging across the ocean. And, as with most cultures discovered by Europeans explorers during that time period, that contact hastened their culture’s descent.
All of Luxor, Egypt! (But we’ll say Karnak)
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When one considers the ancient civilizations of the world, it is impossible to leave out Egypt. And in fact, several of the original 7 Wonders of the World were located in Egypt, including the Great Pyramid! Even so, I feel that the temples and tombs of Luxor in general, and the temple of Karnak in particular, still deserves its place on this list.
Construction on the Temple of Karnak began an astonishing 4,000 years ago, which makes it the second oldest of the would-be Wonders on this list. However, that still places it firmly in the times of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, hundreds of years after the completion of the Great Pyramid.
Karnak was started by the King Senusret I. However, only a small portion of today’s temple was built during his time. Each subsequent king and Pharoah of Egypt after him continued to build on to Karnak, building it ever grander and more expansive over time. This lasted through the entirety of the New Kingdom and into the reigns of the Ptolemaic Pharaohs, making Karnak Temple into something of an archeological timeline in monumental form.
Today, it remains one of the most impressive temples in the world, with tens of thousands of visitors each year.
Stone Henge, England
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There are few monuments in this world as ancient or as well-known as the circle of monoliths known as Stonehenge. However, despite its incredible age, or perhaps because of it, we actually know surprisingly little about the origin and purpose of this iconic monument.
What we do know is that as far back as the late stone age, the site where Stonehenge is located had strong ritualistic ties for the people who built it. And, despite the intervening years, the standing stones and lintels of Stonehenge remain captivating and imposing even today.
The Alhambra, Spain
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The Alhambra is quite possibly the most famous historical building in all of Spain, thanks not only to its excellent examples of Arabic architecture, but also to its historical significance.
The complex dates back to the 1200s CE, predating the modern country of Spain by nearly 300 years. It was built as a fortress city by Muhammad I Ibn al-Ahmar. While it is often thought of as a single monumental structure, the Alhambra is better thought of as an entire walled city, complete with several palaces and mosques, markets and public baths. In all, it covers an impressive 35 acres of land overlooking the plain of Granada.
When the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella forced the Muslim rulers from Granada in 1492, the Alhambra was where they set up court, and where Christopher Columbus came before them to ask for funding for his first voyage to the New World.
Today, the Alhambra remains one of Spain’s most visited historical sites.