KUED Programs

This program introduces the 14 wonders of the world—seven ancient and seven new—and places them in historical context. Explores the only ancient wonder still standing: the Great Pyramid at Giza.

This program features two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Located in present-day Iraq, the Hanging Gardens were said to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife to remind her of her mountainous homeland. The statue of Zeus at Olympia, site of the first Olympic Games, was the crowning achievement of Phidias, the most famous sculptor in 5th Century Hellenic Greece.

A Persian governor, Mausolus, designed, and was buried, in a building so influential that all such structures are now called mausoleums. The largest Classical marble temple at Ephesus in Asia Minor was a huge, yet beautifully proportioned, center of worship for the pagan people of its time.

This program features two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. To celebrate their victory over invaders, the Greek islanders of Rhodes built a statue of the sun god Helios, so large it was dubbed the Colossus. The towering Lighthouse, or Pharos, of Alexandria was the first skyscraper in the world's first metropolis, which was the first attempt to establish a world culture.

This program features two of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The Taj Mahal is one of the world's most beautiful and iconic buildings. Shah Jahan was a 17th Century Mughal ruler who married a Persian princess. Petra, in present-day Jordan, was carved out of sandstone walls by Arabic ancestors called Nabbateans as an oasis refuge on the famous Silk Road.

This program features two of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The Incas, who built Machu Picchu high in the Andes Mountains, were amazing engineers. Rome's most famous and infamous building, the Colosseum, was built to provide Rome's restless populace with such violent entertainment as gladiator contests and bloody sacrifices of Christians and animals.

Three of the Seven New Wonders of the World are featured in this program. Mexican archaeological site Chichén Itzá has some of the most impressive structures of the Mayan competing city-states; China's Great Wall is the largest man-made structure on earth; and a statute of Christ the Redeemer stands atop one of Rio's several peaks.