The 7+34 wonders of Transylvania

A new website, erdely7csodaja.ro has been launched, that contains information regarding the seven wonders of Translyvania that were collected earlier in May. The interactive website is available so far in English and Hungarian.

The initiators of ‘The Seven Wonders of Transylvania’ survey have launched a website, erdely7csodaja.ro, where information on all seven wonders that won in May are available in English and in Hungarian. The creators plan on developing the list, adding other wonders that voters suggested in May.

The ‘winners’ of the voting are as follows:

The Red Lake and the Bicaz Gorge
Lake Saint Anne
The Turda Gorge
The Székelykő of Torockó (lit. the rock of the Szeklers)
The boron water and mofetta of Szeklerland
The statue of Virgin Mary of Csíksomlyó
The Bear Lake of Sovata

This May, 7 Transylvanian wonders have been plucked from altogether 34 suggestions: these are geographical places, traditions, monuments, buildings. However, in the case of the website, not only the winners are important, but the presentation, popularisation of the ‘contestants’.

The aim of this site is not to set up a competition, but to present the values without wanting to gain from it and to draw attention to how wonderful Transylvania is.

As the creators argue, there aren’t only 7 or 34 wonders in Transylvania. These 34 items are included as guidelines, as to spark curiosity. They were chosen on the suggestion of both professionals and voters. The list will be expanded continually in the future, and the creators ask the visitors to help them with further suggestions and ideas.

Aside from being a multilingual webpage, the site underwent some other changes as well, such as the incorporation of a feature through which visitors can leave feedback on the current state of the ‘wonders’, how accessible they are, how clean they are, and last, but not least, how important they are to them.

The creators argue that this feature is necessary, as one has to go beyond presenting the wonders of Transylvania, by protecting them and showing a concise and clear picture of how they are treated.

Three important organisations are backing this initiation: WWF, the Kallós Zoltán Fund, and the Transylvania Trust.

Visitors are also able to use an interactive map, where they will find the wonders, and they can mark if they’ve been to given places. Users can also share this map, as to encourage others to visit these places.

The creators have another aim besides promoting the cultural and natural wonders of Transylvania, and that is to create a means for direct communication between civilians, professional organisations, municipalities and professionals. They are open to suggestions as to how to make this work more efficiently.

featured image: erdely7csodaja.ro

Source: press release