January 30, 2007 12:55

Vote for the Pyramids!

C'mon, Zahi, lighten up a little. Nobody can take the Pyramids away from Egypt.
Our story begins eight years ago, when a self-styled Swiss adventurer named Bernard Weber hatched the idea of identifying the New Seven Wonders of the World. It's not as pointless as it sounds: Weber's aim is to promote greater awareness of world heritage sites and raise money to finance restoration. One of his projects is to recreate the 4th Century AD Buddha statue in Afghanistan destroyed by the Taliban shortly before 9/11.
In early January, Weber's New7Wonders Foundation narrowed 77 nominees down to 21 finalists, from which the New Seven Wonders of the World will be chosen by global citizens who log on to the foundation's website, or phone or text in their vote. The winners will be announced on 7/7/07 and Weber is currently on a world publicity tour of the 21 sites in part to drum up interest in voting.
On his stopover in Cairo last week, Weber got a chilly reception. Egyptian officials refused to meet with him, revealing surprising touchiness about putting the famous pharaonic tombs of Giza to the test. Zahi Hawass, the head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, publicly scorned Weber's project as having "no scientific or official stature." The Pyramids, he added, are "living in the hearts of people around the globe, and don't need a vote to be among the world's wonders." Instead of presenting the contest's Certificate of Candidacy to Egyptian officials as he had planned, Weber symbolically buried it in the sand on the Giza plateau.
Does Dr. Hawass, who has spent his career exploring the mysteries of the site, really worry that the Pyramids would lose?
I can sympathize with his dilemma. The Pyramids are the only Wonder still standing among the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, first compiled by a 2nd Century BC Greek philosopher. Egypt, in fact, had two of the original Wonders, the other being the lighthouse of Alexandria, which is being excavated by French and Egyptian archeologists in the modern city's port. Why should the magnificant Pyramids, upon which Herodotus himself once gazed, be asked to compete with an erector-set toy like Paris's Eiffel Tower, a sound stage called the Sydney Opera House or the bunch of English boulders known as Stonehenge?
Well, for the fun of it, obviously! It's hard to believe that one of the original wonders would lose to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul or Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle much less to that American upstart, New York's Statue of Liberty. And if the Pyramids lost, who would have egg on his face, Egypt, or the contest's organizer? I fear that what Hawass is worried about is not losing the Pyramids--as he says, they will remain in our hearts-- but losing the balloting. The way to ensure against that is to mobilize Egyptians to get out there, support their beloved Pyramids-- and have some fun. They've got my vote.

--By Scott MacLeod/Cairo