Here’s an upset I’ll bet not many of you saw coming. Sydney’s famed Opera House has been upstaged in new list of the World’s Top Landmarks by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Online travel advice hub TripAdvisor has released it’s new list of the Top 25 Landmarks in the World – a list compiled over 12 months and collated from user reviews using a special algorithm to determine the final list, and in terms of Australian entries, it’s Canberra’s cup runneth over.
The Memorial clocks in at number 17 on the list, beating out the Opera House which scraped in at number 25. This isn’t to say the ole’ House of Fins has finally done it’s dash. It’s still the 25th best landmark in the entire freaking world, and the list cites it as simply a “must do.” But it’s the awe and quiet humility of the War Memorial that’s driven it above the local competition, with the final list claiming it to be “one of the best places in the world to remember fallen soldiers without glorifying war in any way. Truly moving.” It’s certainly hard to argue against that point.
The full list of 25 landmarks that made the cut as the best in the world are as follows:
1. Machu Picchu – Machu Piccu, Peru
2. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
3. Taj Mahal – Agra, India
4. Great Cathedral and Mosque – Cordoba, Spain
5. St. Peter’s Basilica – Vatican City, Italy
6. Angkor Wat – Siem Reap, Cambodia
7. Bayon Temple – Siem Reap, Cambodia
8. Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood – St. Petersburg, Russia
9. Gettysburg National Military Park – Gettysburg, USA
10. Ancient City Walls – Dubrovnik, Croatia
11. Shwedagon Pagoda – Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar
12. Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool – Washington D.C., USA
13. Petra World Heritage Site – Wadi Musa, Jordan
14. Great Wall at Mutianyu – Beijing, China
15. Ancient City of Ephesus – Selcuk, Turkey
16. The Alhambra – Granada, Spain
17. Australian War Memorial – Canberra, Australia
18. Siene Cathedral – Siena, Italy
19. Milan Cathedral (Duomo) – Milan, Italy
20. Basilica of the Sagrada Familia – Barcelona, Spain
21. Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco, USA
22. Cristo Rendentor (Statue of Christ the Redeemer) – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
23. Teotihuacan World Heritage Site – San Juan Teotihuacan, Mexico
24. Golden Temple, Harmandir Sahib – Amritsar, India
25. Sydney Opera House – Sydney, Australia
In summation, suck it Sydney. Canberra wins.
Photo via Getty Images.
