Is Dubai's Burj Khalifa the 8th Wonder of the World?

A lot of people believe that the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’ is something that has existed for centuries. In fact, it wasn’t until 2007 that the seven wonders we know today were put into this group. It’s been 12 years since then, and it begs the question, is it not time to accept another entry to the list? Let’s talk about the Burj Khalifa.

It is one of the most iconic buildings not just in Dubai, not just the Middle East, but the entire globe. The Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building at an impressive 2716.5 ft or 828 metres. It took 22 million man-hours, 55,000 tonnes of steel and 110,000 tonnes were used to complete the tower in just six years.

During construction, 12,000 workers helped to create the building every day. 26,000 glass panels cut individually were used to create the exterior, a project which needed 300 experts to make it a reality.

Truly then it is a wondrous building, a testament to the capabilities of the human mind and engineering. The work put into it justifies every world record it holds – which is actually more than just tallest building. However, does it deserve to be on the same list as the current Seven Wonders?

Jeddah Tower

Jeddah Tower is an upcoming construction from Saudi Arabia, hoped to be the world’s first 1,000 metre tall building, it will steal the title of tallest building from the Burj Khalifa. If Jeddah Tower opens in 2021 as is predicted, the Burj Khalifa will have only held the record for 11 years.

Great Pyramid of Giza

Here’s where one of the bona fide World Wonders comes in, the Great Pyramid of Giza. This 139 metre tomb in Egypt stands as an honorary modern World Wonder member and the only surviving Ancient World Wonder. Believe it or not but this pyramid was once also the record holder for tallest building in the world. For how long?

3,800 years.

For almost 4,000 years, this wonder stood as the tallest structure in human history.

So perhaps the Burj can be seen as something that is timeless. What we mean by this is will it still hold what makes it wondrous in 1,000 years? The Great Wall of China, still the longest wall in the world dates back to 7th century BC, Petra in Jordan is from 100 BC and the Taj Mahal is almost 400 years old and it’s an impeccably beautiful building.

The thing that makes the Burj a ‘Wonder’ right now is its height, this is something that ‘A LOT’ of people want to steal from it. Istead of classifying it as the 8th wonder perhaps it can be included in the list of modern Wonders of the World. But will it stand the test of time like the other entries? Well, at least until something taller comes around.

Seen as the World Wonders isn’t an official, undisputed list, there are a lot of other contenders for the name, a lot of these fit into a newer category of Industiral World Wonders or Modern World Wonders. This is where the Burj could sit, alongside projects like The Golden Gate Bridge, The Empire State Building and The Hoover Dam.

The Golden Gate Bridge