Home

Seven (Fourteen) Wonders Of The World

Postal History
Faeroese Postal History 
Hungarian Hyperinflation
Soviet-Lithuania 1947-90
Encased Stamps
Dutch Silver Stamp 
A Jewel on a Stamp
TPG Post 
Azad Hind 
Christmas Island 
Nordic Swans

Ephemera
Braille 
Bluenose 
Kaulbach Island 
Canadian Nat. Symbols
Barcelos Rooster
Easter 
Private - Personalized 
Roses 
Swarovski Crystals 
St. Zeno 
St. George
St. Patrick 
St. Valentine 
Thanksgiving
Mother's Day  
Father's Day  
Seven Wonders 
Four Seasons

Curiosa
Hidden Messages
Gothic Alphabet

Philatelic Art Mews
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
National Portrait Gallery
Bjørn Wiinblad
Tordenskiold

The Seven Wonders Of The World have always fascinated me, because it is a well known fact that no man can live without beauty and creativity in his life. The spiritual needs of everybody -- individuality, "belonging to", compassion and love for someone, meaningful work, recreation and distressing, creativity, justice and fairness, truth and beauty -- are so overwhelming instinctive demands, that they cannot be overheard by anyone wishing to live a meaningful life. 

Some of the most startling examples of creativity were "The Seven Wonders Of The World", described in a Hellenistic epigram by Antinatros from Sidon (ca. 200 BC.), which mentions the most famous buildings and works of art of the antiquity.   

I was delighted when I first found the very nice set of seven, issued by Hungary in 1980, showing these Wonders, and decided at once to show them on this site. The same theme was issued by Mongolia in 1990, and are shown alongside with the Hungarian stamps. Enjoy!  

Suspended Gardens of Babylon. Babylon: archaic for "The Door to God".  The town is mentioned the first time about 2250 BC, and had its first Golden Era when Hammurabi made it capital and built the wall of about 18 km around the city in the 1700th century BC.    The Suspended Gardens are believed to have been made by King Nebukadnezar II around 575 BC.  It is still disputed by the scientists, whether the tall building in the background was supposed to be The Tower of Babel.

The Egyptian Pyramids at Gizeh, Cairo. There are really 7 pyramids, the oldest one being the stair-pyramid at Saqqara, built in the 25th century BC,  but the most well known ones are undoubtedly the three named Mykerinos, Chefren and Cheops, built by the Pharaohs of the 4th Dynasty.

Zeus Statue in Olympia (Greece) by Phidias. Phidias, who lived about 500-430 BC, was a Greek sculptor and one of the most acknowledged artists of the Time of Antiquity. His colossal statue of Zeus, made from gold and ivory, has disappeared, and is now only known from contemporary coins and Roman marble-copies. I find it rather interesting that the Greek God Zeus has a pretty "Mongolian" look on the left stamp ...

The Artemis-Temple at Ephesus, Asia Minor. Greek town of Ancient Times, particularly known for its Cult of Artemis.   The temple for this goddess was built in the 500th century BC.

The Mausoleum at Halikarnassos, Asia Minor. Halikarnassos is situated on the coast of Asia Minor, and is today known as Budrum. It was the birth-town of Herodotus, and possibly also of Dionysus.

In the 2nd century BC it was the residential city of King Mausolos, whose sister (and widow!) asked the architect Pytheos to build his tomb "Mausoleion". The building itself has disappeared since long, but the word as such has certainly survived into our times ...

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt. In the Time of Antiquity Faros was a small Egyptian island in the Mediterranean, just off the city of Alexandria.  The enormous lighthouse, more than 100 meters tall, was built by King Ptolemaios II 280-279 BC.  The lighthouse was in use until it broke together ca. 1300 AC.

In 2001 an initiative was started by the Swiss corporation New Open World Corporation (NOWC) to choose the new Seven Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments for profit twenty-one finalists were announced January 1, 2006, and the final results were announced on July 7, 2007. They are:  

1. The Great Wall, (China) 

2. The Ancient City of Petra (Jordan) 

3. Christ the Redeemer - (Statue) in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 

4. Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu (Peru) 

5. Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza Maya Site (Mexico) 

6. Coliseum of Rome (Italy) 

7. Taj Mahal (India) 

As an eighth wonder (honorary candidate) was chosen The Great Pyramids at Giza (Eypt) 

The UNESCO has clearly stated that the organization is NOT involved in the nomination of these sites as Seven Wonders of the World, but most of them (except for the Christ Statue in Rio de Janeiro) are already on the UNESCO-list of World Cultural Heritage. Click any of the above links for a virtual visit (on postage stamps) to them. 

Top of Page