Categories
Categorisation of the wonders of the world is complex issue as there many ways making these wonders amazing and unique.
The list below is made throughout several years of work - sometimes extending it to more than 100 categories and sometimes even approaching illusory feel of order. It is not complete so far and will be updated upon necessity.
The list of categories bears no unified principles and many landmarks of the world fit into several categories. One principle though has remained strict - every valuable monument of the world would fit at least into one of these categories.
Many categories have also subcategories - here are listed those which are met most frequently.
| Natural landmarks | ||
| Volcanoes | ||
| Impact craters | ||
| Monoliths | ||
| Boulders | ||
| Cliffs | ||
| Canyons and ravines | ||
| Natural arches | ||
| Rock spires | ||
| Caves | ||
| Sinkholes | ||
| Springs | ||
| Geysers | ||
| Thermal springs | ||
| Mineral springs | ||
| Submarine springs | ||
| Spring terraces | ||
| Waterfalls | ||
| Rapids | ||
| Rare natural materials | ||
| Gemstone finds | ||
| Fossil finds | ||
| Ancient human finds | ||
| Ecosystems | ||
| Animal colonies | ||
| Trees | ||
| Sites of weather phenomena | ||
| Other natural landmarks | ||
| Man made landmarks | ||
| Urban planning monuments | ||
| Ancient settlements | ||
| Fortifications | ||
| Ancient fortifications | ||
| Castles and palaces | ||
| Ancient castles and palaces | ||
| Residential buildings | ||
| Religious architecture | ||
| Christian shrines | ||
| Christian monasteries | ||
| Islamic shrines | ||
| Hindu shrines | ||
| Buddhist shrines | ||
| Judaism monuments | ||
| Jain shrines | ||
| Other contemporary shrines | ||
| Ancient shrines | ||
| Ancient burials | ||
| Monuments and memorials | ||
| Ancient monuments and memorials | ||
| Parks and gardens | ||
| Megaliths | ||
| Cairns | ||
| Geoglyphs | ||
| Petroglyphs and rock art | ||
| Rock cut architecture and sculptures | ||
| Industrial architecture | ||
| Bridges | ||
| Mills and powerplants | ||
| Other architecture monuments | ||
| Other archaeological monuments | ||
| Landmarks of general nature | ||
| Museums | ||
| Sites of legends | ||
| Observation spots | ||
| Extremes | ||
You might be surprised to hear: Wondermondo hates classification and categorization. World is too beautiful and too diverse and it is interesting just because it can not be fully comprehended. Who has heard about the classification of wonders?
But the enormous number of wonders without any classification would lead to chaotic congregation of information. And there is little sense for information if it can not be found. Thus Wondermondo offers own system of classification.
Kinds of classification
Wondermondo has classified the extremely diverse array of landmarks of the world in several ways:
- Categories - classification by characteristics and origin of landmarks. Currently Wondermondo divides landmarks in 33 categories and 29 subcategories.
- Values - classification by values which make the landmark unique. Below are outlined 9 such values.
- Location - classification by geographical location of landmarks. Described in section Countries.
- Rank - classification by the uniqueness and popularity of landmarks. Described in section Maps.
Values
Each of the landmarks listed by Wondermondo excels due to certain values. Some are exceptional due to unique art values, others - due to specific importance to science, but some - due to unexplained mysteries linked with them.
In this site there have been identified the following values of landmarks:
Pont du Gard aqueduct, France. Photo by ignis, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-3.0
- Geology - landmark provides unique knowledge about the geological formation and history of Earth;
- Biology - landmark provides unique knowledge about the organisms, life in general and the history of the development of life;
- Meteorology - landmark provides unique knowledge about the climate of Earth and/or represents unusual climatic and atmospheric phenomena;
- Archaeology - through the findings in this landmark there has been obtained unique knowledge about the past of humanity;
- Architecture - landmark represents unique achievement in the design of structures;
- History - landmark is linked to important historical events or has provided unique historical knowledge;
- Art - landmark contains unique artworks;
- Visual - landmark represents exceptionally impressive or unusual sight;
- Unexplained - landmark is captivating due to unexplained mysteries.
20 August 2010 Gatis Pāvils