Six years ago, extravagant Swiss-born millionaire Bernard Weber initiated the New7Wonders campaign, amid criticism from experts and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

People all around the globe were supposed to cast their votes through the internet or cell phone text message for the new seven wonders, a vote that turned into a run-off between large communities with wide access to internet.

Over 70 million people showed their sympathy towards an ancient monument or a modern construction, the result being revealed Saturday night in a glamorous ceremony in Lisbon's Stadium of Light.

And the winners were: the Great Wall of China, the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Inca city of Machu Pichu in Peru, the Chichen Itza pyramid in Mexico, the Colosseum in Rome and India’s Taj Mahal.

Critics, headed by UNESCO said this competition has no relevance and nothing to do whatsoever with the outstanding cultural or natural values promoted by the World Heritage Sites programme.

Other world-renown monuments were left out of this ad hoc list like the Acropolis in Athens, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Britain’s Stonehenge, the Alhambra in Spain, the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia, the Easter Island statues, the Hagia Sophia in Turkey.

Famous sites and tourist attractions like the Kiyomizu Temple in Japan, the Kremlin and St Basil in Moscow, Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, the Statue of Liberty in New York City, the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the ancient city of Timbuktu, Mali found themselves less appreciated by the voters through the past six years.

The initial list contained almost 200 monuments, that were narrowed down to 21 by last year.