By NANCY HILER
Or will the Great Wall of China, the Roman Coloseum, Stonehenge in Great Britain or our own Statute of Liberty make the cut?
Students at Saw Mill Road School in North Bellmore are researching information about these and other architectural sites and participating in the New Seven Wonders of the World campaign, a global, Internet-enabled vote for more modern marvels. Recognizing the campaign's uncanny tie-in to the sixth-grade World History curriculum, which is centered around cultural and historic aspects of past civilizations, Saw Mill Road teacher Elise Arnell decided to make it the focus of a student project in her classroom recently.
"What else was carved out of solid rock?" asked Caitlin Boyle of her fellow students as she gave a presentation about the ancient city of Petra. "They did not erode after all this time the way other things have," she added, pointing to an oversized photograph that she had clipped onto the classroom blackboard. She was talking about the structures created from the solid rose-red stone mountainside in the ancient city on the edge of the Arabian Desert, in current-day Jordan, considered a marvel of engineering and water technology.
Each student was asked to give an oral presentation explaining the significance of one of 21 long-standing, man-made masterpieces that make up a list created by the New7Wonders Foundation.
Narrowing the nominees
The foundation was set up in 2000 by Swiss filmmaker and explorer Bernard Weber, who thought the millennium was about time for a new list of wonders to be created. "The renowned ancient wonders belong to antiquity, and with the exception of the Pyramids, none remains in existence," Weber commented. "There has never been any true public consensus of opinion on the last 2,000 years of human achievement."
He called on renowned architects to narrow the list to 21 from 77 original possibilities based on 200 nominees, and present it for a global vote open to anyone who can access the Internet or a telephone. He is urging everyone to vote to pay tribute to what he calls "our collective global cultural heritage."
Likewise, the Saw Mill Road School students were interested in the cultural context in which construction took place for each of their entries, but they also focused on the architectural significance and endurance.
In the case of Caitlin's project on Petra, she talked about structures built in the first century B.C., carved out of a mountain. She said that the Palace Tombs of Petra are an impressive symbol of Middle Eastern culture. What she and most of the students in the class found most interesting, however, was a mystery related to Petra. The ancient structures are in Al Khazneh, which translated means "the Treasury," named after a legend. "They thought pirates hid treasure there," she explained.
Awesome architecture
When asked what went into their research, most of the sixth-graders said they thought about why the structure was built and why it lasted so long. "Did you make comparisons?" Arnell asked. "Did you look at the social structure at the time, how the past connects with the present, how the building is significant?"
Many of the students said it took time to figure out what was most important about their particular structures. Many said they had too much information, but tried to highlight what they thought mattered.
When working on his report, Vincent Cerati, said, "What I thought was important was the date it was built, what materials were used, how long it was there, why it was built and why it should be remembered."
Sixth-grader Lydia Gallant said she printed seven pages on her computer. "I could not talk about every specific detail," she said. "People would get bored."
Another student explained that the school projects section of the New7Wonders Foundation Web site, designed to encourage young students' participation in the vote, lacked information on his topic, but he found what he was looking for on the Internet. The Web site "was not much on facts," Vincent Tenaglia said. "I 'Googled' the Taj Mahal and came up with 80 pages. I narrowed it down to 15 pages. I wanted quality over quantity."
The extent of investigation into their projects became clearer as, one by one, the students spoke in front of the class. "The Pyramid of Giza in Cairo, Egypt, is the oldest man-made structure in existence," Amanda Camhi said. "One hundred thousand people worked on it for three months per year for 20 years." This is the only one of the original Seven Wonders that still exists today, the only one included in the list of candidates for revote.
The original Seven Ancient Wonders of the World were also man-made monuments, but were selected by one person, the ancient engineer Philon of Byzantium, in 200 B.C. Geared toward his fellow Athenians, his list of structures, besides the Pyramids, included the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. All were located around the Mediterranean basin, the world known by Philon.
The 21 candidates for today's global vote range from such remote and ancient stunning sites as Stonehenge, Easter Island, Cichen Itza and the Great Wall of China to the Sydney Opera House in Australia, Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, the Eiffel Tower in France and the Statue of Liberty in New York City.
"The Sydney Opera House was planned in the 1940s, but it took from 1959 to 1973 to build," Kelly Corrado said, pointing to her photograph and the brilliant outlines of its shell-shaped rooftops at night. Kelly explained that the opera house was considered impossible to build at first. She pointed out that it is amazing that it is standing, considering the building weighs 161,000 tons and is supported by 580 concrete piers sunk up to 82 feet below sea level. Arnell added that the opera house is most famous for its freestanding construction on a platform in Sydney Harbor. "At the time, nothing else was built like that," Arnell concluded.
"The water has healing power," Tom George Jr. said during his discussion of Kiyomizu Temple in Japan. "Built on a waterfall, burnt and rebuilt again," he said, "it is known as the temple of clear waters." The structure was built in 794 A.D., as one of the palaces of Kyoto, where Japan's emperors and shoguns resided for more than 1,000 years. "It is a symbol of clarity and serenity," Tom said, pointing to a photograph of its famous veranda, which overlooks the city and is suspended over the waterfall. Visitors collect and even drink the water, he said, because it's supposed to possess a healing power to give health, long life and success with studies.
The world votes
Success with studies is one thing this class of industrious sixth-graders need not wonder about as they join with some 25 million people across the globe who have cast votes for the new Seven Wonders.
The New7Wonders Foundation will announce the seven choices during a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal, on Saturday, July 7, 2007 - that is 07.07.07.
`To cast a vote online, and for information about phone and text messaging a choice, visit www.new7wonders.com. Also at the site is information about posting a slogan, the official song, purchasing related merchandise, and the planned book and IMAX movie on the project to follow. Half of the profits will be donated to global good causes in monument and building restoration and preservation.
Comments about this story? Contact nhiler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
Voting for seven "New Wonders of the World"
Saw Mill Road School sixth-graders researched and gave presentations on 21 manmade marvels, which are up for vote as the New Seven Wonders of the World.
The 21 "New Wonders" candidates, as currently ranked (each group in alphabetical order), include:
Top Seven:
€Chichen Itza
€Roman Colosseum
*Great Wall of China
_Machu Picchu
_Petra
_Pyramids of Giza
_Taj Mahal
Middle Seven
_Acropolis
€Alhambra
_Angkor
_Statue of Christ Redeemer
_Eiffel Tower
€Statues of Easter Island
_Stonehenge
Bottom Seven
_Hagia Sophia
_Kiyomizu Temple
€Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral,
_Neuschwanstein Castle
_Statue of Liberty
_Sydney Opera House
_Timbuktu
Votes can be cast online at www.new7wonders.com, the Web site for the New7Wonders Foundation, which will announce the chosen seven on Saturday, July 7, 2007 - 07.07.07.
