Legislature on short list for Canada’s Seven Wonders

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/05/2007 (6750 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE Manitoba Legislative Building has made the short list for the CBC’s Seven Wonders of Canada contest.

The ‘Leg’ is one of 50 nominations selected from among the tens of thousands submitted to the CBC contest, and it’s one of only three buildings among the 50 nominations.

But then, what other location in Canada, or North America for that matter, can claim a direct connection to one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world — King Solomon’s Temple and its fabled Ark of the Covenant? The link has been made by Frank Albo, the local academic who has spent the last few years researching the building and its cryptic occult past, and one of the champions for the site in the CBC contest.

“The Manitoba Legislative Building is a Rosetta Stone of mystical architecture in the heart of the Canadian prairies,” Albo wrote recently, “and is without question one of the Seven Wonders of Canada.”

Albo and the Free Press recently teamed up to write an award-winning series called The Hermetic Code. The series was reissued as a glossy full-colour book with extra chapters and dozens of new photos just last month, and is currently on top of McNally Robinson’s bestseller list. To vote for the Golden Boy and his magnificent perch, go to www.cbc.ca.

Closer to home, the Free Press has been running its own 7 Wonders contests for the past six weeks, and the Legislative Building hasn’t proven as popular among our online readers (www.wondersofwinnipeg.com).

This week, a white black bear at the Assiniboine Park Zoo named Maskwa is in the lead. The deadline for voting is Friday at midnight.

The 7 Wonders of Winnipeg contest invites Winnipeggers to submit photographs or videos of what they consider to be one of the seven ‘wonders’ of Winnipeg and readers vote each week on which ‘wonder’ they think should win.

Last week, a video on the Bridge Drive-In was the top vote-getter, netting 135 votes — the highest number of votes cast for any submission since the context began six weeks ago.

The first week’s winner was a photograph of the buildings at The Forks, with 44 votes. However, the Esplanade Riel proved to be extremely popular that first week — there were 10 different photos of the bridge submitted for the contest and together they also polled 44 votes.

The controversial bridge remains popular with readers of Winnipeg Free Press Live — photos of the bridge are submitted almost every week and a dramatic photo of the bridge at night with the downtown skyline in the background was voted the most popular wonder of Week 4, with 30 votes. In fact, a second photo of the bridge was also submitted that week.

The Forks also remains extremely popular. Not only did it win in Week 1, but the skateboard park was voted most popular ‘wonder’ in Week 3, with 34 votes. And photos of different views of The Forks are submitted for consideration every week.

Other popular icons considered for voting in the 7 Wonders of Winnipeg contest have included the Royal Canadian Mint, the Golden Boy and the Legislative Building, the Fort Garry Hotel, and the Thunder Bird House. The grand prize is a Vespa Fly 50 Scooter from Vespa Winnipeg. Weekly winners get free movie passes for two for a year.

Even Burton Cummings was submitted for consideration in Week 3, attracting two votes.

Check www.wondersofwinnipeg.com for contest rules.

Meanwhile, the Free Press’s in-paper contest on the Seven Wonders of Winnipeg has also entered its second-last week.

On Sunday, May 27, we’ll unveil all seven of the contest winners, plus identify the wonders chosen by the paper and why each was chosen. The grand prize for that write-in contest is a trip for two to Istanbul, Turkey.