# Which of the Seven Ancient Wonders would you like to see restored?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-seven-ancient-wonders-would-you-like-to-see-restored/795575>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 5, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-seven-ancient-wonders-would-you-like-to-see-restored/795575 "2017-09-05T18:46:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-of-the-seven-ancient-wonders-would-you-like-to-see-restored/795575/61 "2017-09-17T16:27:33Z")

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> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> there is a plan to rebuild the colossus of Rhodes
> 
> [Rhodes reconstruction project will be a colossal gamble for Greece – but it might well pay off | Kate Williams | The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/27/greece-colossus-rhodes-new-project)

Except it’s not a rebuild of the original, but a new statue of a new design and modern construction techniques.

> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I’d have to go with either the Hanging Gardens or the Colossus. The Gardens because, as others have said, we have very little idea what they were actually like, and they were probably very beautiful, from a human perspective walking around in them. The Colossus because, even though it was much shorter than the Statue of Liberty (108’ vs. 305’), it was still tall enough to be an absolutely phenomenal feat of engineering for the time, and I’d love to see how they managed it.

> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Heel to head, though it seems both statues were about the same size. Liberty just has a big ol pedestal under her.

The Colossus was 108 feet tall, the [Statue of Liberty](https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/statue-statistics.htm) is 111 feet tall from heel to top of head.

> [@](#):
>
> The rest of the Wonders may have been the greatest specimens of the sort of thing they were, but they weren’t too different from the second-fanciest temple, or the second-prettiest gold statue, or whatever. But those two were the _only_ specimens of what they were.

I think a fully restored Great Pyramid would be an impressive sight, much more so than anything still standing.

> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> The statue at the harbor of Braavos was undoubtedly inspired by the Colossuis of Rhodes. There was a medieval notion that the statue spanned the harbor with its legs –
> 
> [snip]
> 
> I wonder why filmmakers feel the need to have the Colossus take it out on ships?

I think you answered your own question. Modern filmmakers took the legends as inspiration, and a giant guarding the harbor entrance just begs to be depicted.

> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> Opened in 2002: [Bibliotheca Alexandrina - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_Alexandrina)
> 
> [Home - Bibliotheca Alexandrina](http://www.bibalex.org/en/default)

Not a reproduction of the original, but a modern replacement. We can’t get the original works from this library.

> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> What if it’s that the Hanging Gardens, for all their splendor, were only amazing for the time? That they were not even as nice as the Gardens of Bellagio in Las Vegas? Or the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix?

That is possibly true. The description of “hanging” might, for instance, simply mean various arboreal plants hanging from the trees that were grown there. Still, I think they would be impressive. It’s one thing to see what modern technology can achieve, it’s quite another to see the original with ancient tech.

The original [Ferris Wheel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_Wheel), for instance, would have been an amazingly impressive sight, standing 264 feet tall and having carriages with 40 chairs and able to carry 60 passengers per car. Much more impressive than the standard carnival variety. There have been larger versions built ever since, starting almost right away, and modern versions like the London Eye (443 feet) and the High Roller in Las Vegas (550 feet) dwarf it, but the original was an engineering original and superb achievement.

The Colossus probably isn’t that impressive in its own right, because we already have the Statue of Liberty, and skyscrapers abound, and it undoubtedly doesn’t live up to the greatest of its legends, such as is standing astride the harbor entrance. But for a creation of its time, it would have been an engineering marvel and a supremely impressive sight.

I struggle between a restored Great Pyramid, the Hanging Gardens, and the Colossus.

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