The original seven wonders of the world, as described by the Greek poet Antipater of Sidon, only existed simultaneously for about 60 years, the time between when the Colossus of Rhodes was completed in around 280 B.C. and when it was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 B.C. Yet the reputation of these great towering structures, unrivaled in scale and in artistry, lives on.

At the turn of the millennium, a Swiss-born Canadian filmmaker named Bernard Weber began a campaign to designate seven new wonders of the world. Of the 20 candidates, only two came from the 20th century: the Sydney Opera House, built in 1959, and Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue, finished in 1931. The other 18 were ancient: the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China. Even the Statue of Liberty was more than a c...